George Meikle Kemp - Glasgow Cathedral

Glasgow Cathedral

In the early 1830s Kemp was engaged to produce measured drawings of historic Scottish buildings for a proposed book on Scotland's cathedrals and other antiquities. Although the project was later abandoned, Kemp completed a series of drawings of Glasgow Cathedral, which at that time was incomplete and partly in ruins. He included a drawing showing how the cathedral may have looked, had it been completed as intended, even preparing a model and costs for the works. In 1836, these proposals were publicised by a committee set up to investigate the restoration of the cathedral, although his drawings were attributed to James Gillespie Graham. Kemp was even accused of copying Graham's design, and was not vindicated until 1840. The scheme was later abandoned.