This page forms part of a series of pages dedicated to the many artists who worked in Mont Saint-Michel. A full list of all the artists with a link to their works can be found at the bottom of this page.
Movement(s): –
James Kay (1858 – 1942) was a Scottish artist notable for his paintings of the landscapes and shipping. Born on the Isle of Arran (son of Thomas Kay, a chief petty officer in the British Royal Navy, and Violet McNeish), Kay spent much of his working life with a studio in Glasgow and living at Portincaple on Loch Long in Argyll and Bute. He trained at the Glasgow School of Art.
He showed great originality, influenced by the emergence of impressionism of the 1880s. Active from the late 1880s, Kay achieved regular recognition at exhibitions in Europe. He exhibited at the Salon in Paris in 1894, and at 1895’s La Libre Esthetique in Brussels was awarded an honourable mention. In 1903 his painting Toil and Grime was awarded the silver medal at the Societe des Amis des Arts in Rouen, while another work, River of the North, won the gold medal at the Paris Salon.
He was elected to the Royal Scottish Society of Painters in Watercolour (RSW) in 1906 and to the Royal Scottish Academy in 1938.
In 1911, Kay met and married Ada Laval, who was from Mauritius. He had one daughter, artist Violet McNeish Kay.
Click here to read James Kay’s full bio on Wikipedia.
NOTE: Click on the image below for a bigger version (no new window will open).
NOTE: A black box like this one, means that there is an explanation text about today’s situation of the painting above it.
NOTE: Click on this photo icon 
anywhere below a painting to see a photo of what the area looks like today.
NOTE: A blue box like this one, means there is an explanation or a note.
TODAY: The access road to Mont Saint-Michel no longer allows cars and buses. There are big parking places on the mainland, and you need to take a shuttle.
NOTE: James Kay wrote Brittany as the region where Mont Saint-Michel is. That is wrong since it’s Normandy sinec the year 1030, a hot contention bit between the two regions.
James Kay painted in several places along the coast of Normandy and Brittany, here they are (links “⇠“ to his works of art will appear below when published);
The Mont Saint-Michel is a very impressive village, used as backdrop for many artists travelling in the region. Here are the artists that we have found that worked in the area (a link “⇠” will appear next to an artist name when we published their works of art. A “*” next to a name indicates that the artist did NOT work in Mont Saint-Michel itself, but closeby).
- 🇬🇧 Bonington, Richard Parkes
- 🇬🇧 Callow, William
- 🇬🇧 Cooke, Edward William
- 🇬🇧 Cotman, John Sell
- 🇬🇧 Fergusson, John Duncan
- 🇫🇷 Gudin, Theodore
- 🇫🇷 Guillaumin, Armand *
- 🇫🇷 Huet, Paul *
- 🇫🇷 Isabey, Eugene
- 🇬🇧 Kay, James
- 🇫🇷 Letellier, Emile-Andre
- 🇬🇧 Meadows, Arthur Joseph
- 🇫🇷 Michallon, Achille-Etna
- 🇫🇷 Parrott, William *
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John Cotman, a British painter, was quite active in Normandy. He spent a lot of time painting in Caen and Ouistreham (suburb of Caen). Here are two of his paintings we found for Mont Saint-Michel, Normandy. - 94
Edward William Cooke was an English landscape and marine painter, and gardener. Cooke was born in London, the son of well-known line engraver George Cooke; his uncle, William Bernard Cooke, was also a line engraver of note, and Edward was raised in the company of artists. He spent many years… - 94
Achille Etna Michallon (1796–1822) was a French painter. Michallon was the son of the sculptor Claude Michallon and nephew of the sculptor Guillaume Francin. He travelled to Italy in 1818 and remained there for over two years. Before he had much time to develop what he had learned however, he… - 94
Arthur Joseph Meadows (1843 - 1907) was a British painter of coastal scenes and marines who was greatly influenced by Clarkson Stanfield. Arthur Joseph is generally considered to be the best of the Meadows family of marine artists, he was the younger brother of James Edwin Meadows Jnr. and the… - 94
William Callow was an English landscape painter, engraver and water colourist. He travelled extensively in France, the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Switzerland and Italy, had a large number of pupils, and enjoyed favour with the royal family. Here is one of his paintings he made in Mont Saint-Michel and one closeby…
