This powerful and meticulously rendered panoramic composition depicts a scene on

the Angus coast north of Dundee. It reflects the artist's interest in the work of Pieter

Breughel. Duncan Macmillan has noted the widespread influence of the Flemish

painter on Keay's contemporaries such as James McIntosh Patrick, whose Winter in

Angus (1935, Tate Gallery) is almost a homage. In Mill under Snow, Keay also adopts

the elevated viewpoint which was a defining feature of much of Breughel's work. The

immediate fall of the land has the effect of drawing the viewer into the composition

towards the abandoned mill building and the tiny figures heading out sledging.

Harry Keay trained at Dundee College of Art (1930-7) under James McIntosh

Patrick, and then with James Cowie at Hospitalfield (1937-8). He retained strong

personal connections with both men and they each inspired his work. He, too, taught

throughout his career, primarily at Morgan Academy, Dundee, where he became

Principal Teacher of Art. His career flourished during the 1940s when he was a regular

exhibitor at the Royal Academy, RSA and with Dundee Art Society.