An interior of St Magnus Cathedral at Kirkwall, the birthplace of the artist Stanley Cursiter. The view is looking from the pews in the left transept to the crossing with, to the left, the choir, and to the right, the right transept.

Painted in warm red ochres tones emphasising the local red sandstone, the play of light and shadow and the highlights on the wooden sculptures bring vitality and atmosphere to the setting. The bibles appear to almost radiate light. The scene is perhaps reminiscent of the spartan church interiors by Dutch seventeenth-century artists such as Gerrit Houckgeest.

Born in Kirkwall, Orkney, Cursiter trained at Edinburgh College of Art and during his early career was influenced by cubism and vorticism; after the First World War he adopted a more realist approach - embracing portraiture and landscape painting. From 1930 to 1948, he was Keeper of the National Gallery of Scotland and from 1948 to 1976 he was first The King’s and later The Queen’s Painter and Limner in Scotland. A memorial to the artist is inside the Cathedral.