John Miller Gray

“ Geddes began the systematic practice of art comparatively late, and his works occasionally show defects of form; but he improved himself by a study of the great masters, and from the first his sense of colour and tone was unerring. He is represented in the National Gallery of Scotland by five works. The ‘Portrait of the Artist's Mother’ is entitled to rank as the painter's masterpiece. ”

“ GORDON, Sir JOHN WATSON- (1788–1864) , portrait-painter, was born in Edinburgh in 1788. He was descended from the Watsons of Overmains, Berwickshire, and was son of Captain James Watson of the royal artillery, and nephew of George Watson, first president of the Scottish Academy. Watson was trained for the army; but before receiving his commission in the engineers, while studying drawing under John Graham in the Trustees' Academy, Edinburgh, he decided to adopt art as a profession. ”

“ Deeply impressed by the paintings of Raeburn, he began, at the age of about twenty-five, to study as a portrait-painter. His productions gained for him Raeburn's friendship, and he worked in Raeburn's studio. In 1812, when he was residing in Shakespeare Square, he contributed a portrait of a gentleman to the Exhibition of Associated Artists, Edinburgh, and he continued to contribute to the same exhibitions from 1814 to 1816. ”

“ Goodsir read before the society two papers ‘On the Natural Principles of Beauty,’ founded on Hay's ‘Geometric Beauty of the Human Figure,’ a work in which the author had been considerably aided by the professor's anatomical knowledge. In 1846 Hay received from the Royal Scottish Society of Arts a silver medal ‘for his machine for drawing the perfect egg-oval or composite ellipses.’ He died in Edinburgh on 10 Sept. ”

“ JOHNSTONE, WILLIAM BORTHWICK (1804–1868) , landscape and historical painter, born in Edinburgh 21 July 1804, was son of John Johnstone, an Edinburgh lawyer, originally from Lanarkshire. Both his father and mother died when he was very young, and he and his younger brother James were placed under the care of Mr. Cunningham, parish minister of Duns, Berwickshire, where they attended school. Both brothers afterwards entered lawyers' offices in Edinburgh. The younger continued a lawyer throughout life, and became clerk to Lord Benholm the judge. ”

“ Four cabinet-sized pictures from the life of Queen Mary were published in 1867–8 as photographs by the Art Union of Glasgow, which in 1878 issued a similar series of photographs from pictures illustrating Campbell's ‘Poems;’ and various of the artist's works in addition to the two above named, were engraved in the publications of the Association for the Promotion of the Fine Arts in Scotland. Another interesting class of Herdman's works comprises studies of single female figures, classical, rustic, or fancy, such as ‘Sibylla,’ 1872 ”

“ In 1808 he was in Edinburgh, where he joined the Society of Associated Artists, to whose exhibitions he contributed from that date till 1816, and he was represented in the modern exhibitions of the Institution for the Encouragement of the Fine Arts in Scotland in 1821 and 1822. In the earlier exhibition catalogues his name occasionally appears as ‘Peter’ Gibson. ”

“ In March 1874 Gray entered the service of the Bank of Scotland as superintendent of branches, Edinburgh, and eight years later he became cashier there, an appointment which he retained during the rest of his life. In Edinburgh he again devoted himself to the interests of science. ”

“ William, disliking the pursuit of law, ultimately devoted himself to painting, beginning in 1836 to contribute to the Royal Scottish Academy. From January 1840 till May 1842 he attended in the evenings the antique class of the Trustees' Academy under the direction of William (afterwards Sir William) Allan (Attendance-Book of Trustees' Academy) . ”

“ He is known as an animal painter by a series of studies of lions and tigers, painted in the menagerie of the Tower. As a teacher he was eminently successful; he introduced various improvements into the system of training, and succeeded in inspiring his pupils with his own enthusiasm for art. ”

“ Mackenzie was one of the twenty-four artists who in 1829 were admitted members of the Scottish Academy (Harvey, Notes on the Royal Scottish Academy) , which obtained its royal charter in 1838, and, with the single exception of 1842, he contributed to every exhibition of that body till 1846, showing mainly portraits. ”

“ Examples of his art are at Floors and Gordon Castles, and in the possession of the Royal Scottish Academy. He was a man of considerable culture, and a good mathematician. He was particularly interested in horology, and constructed sundials for every latitude. Of kindly character, he was especially helpful to young artists. Mackenzie painted the portrait of the Rev. Dr. David Dickson (1780-1842) [q. v.] , and modelled the head in Alexander Handyside Ritchie's monument to Dickson in St. Cuthbert's burying-ground, Edinburgh. He died in Edinburgh, 23 Jan. ”

“ On his return he settled in Edinburgh, and from 1832—when he was first represented by 'The Gipsy Girl'—he was a very regular contributor to the exhibitions of the Royal Scottish Academy, of which he was elected an associate in 1839, and a full member in 1846. ”

“ During his later years he pursued his art chiefly in Edinburgh. The latest of his dated works is an unknown portrait at Yester, Haddingtonshire, inscribed 1644; and in the latter part of that year he died, and was buried in the churchyard of Greyfriars, Edinburgh. ”

“ He is stated by Kennedy to have returned to Scotland in 1620, His portrait of Sir Paul Menezes of Kilmundie in Marischal College, Aberdeen, is dated in that year, and his bust-portrait of the first Earl of Traquair at Keith Hall is inscribed 1621. He speedily acquired a large practice as a portrait-painter, and many of the moot celebrated Scotsmen of the time were among his bitten, including James VI and Charles I, Dr. ”

“ From early years he had been addicted to the study of natural history. He soon adopted ornithology as his specialty, and wrote largely on the subject. During his frequent journeys for the inspection of the branch offices of the bank, he diligently availed himself of his extended opportunities for studying bird-life and adding to his collection of specimens. ”

“ Meanwhile he had been diligently training himself in art. In 1835 and 1837, while acting in the English Opera House, he exhibited in the Suffolk Street Gallery, and in 1836 he sent a landscape to the Royal Academy. ”

“ HARVEY, Sir GEORGE (1806–1876) , painter, was born at St. Ninians, Stirlingshire, in February 1806. Shortly after his birth his father, a watchmaker, settled in the town of Stirling, and here the boy was apprenticed to a bookseller. ”

“ Arthur Johnston (1623) , Robert Gordon of Straloch, George, fifth earl Marischal, Sir Archibald Johnston, Lord Warriston, the great Marquis of Montrose, the first Marquis of Argyll, and Lady Mary Erskine, countess Marischal (1626) . ”

“ He is represented in the National Gallery of Scotland by ‘La Culla,’ his diploma work, and ‘After the Battle.’ A bust of Herdman by W. Brodie, R.S.A., and portraits by himself and by his son, Mr. Duddingstone Herdman, are in the possession of the family, and another oil portrait by his own hand is in the collection of artists' portraits formed by the late Mr. ”

“ Among his ideal works are ‘A Girl and a Carrier Pigeon,’ 1835, and ‘Eurydice,’ 1849. His ‘Ulysses recognised by his dog,’ shown in the Paris Exhibition of 1855, was much admired, and became the property of Lord Kilmorey. Macdonald died in Rome, 4 March 1878. ”

“ Ten of them he himself published in 1826; forty-three are catalogued in Laing's volume, and there printed from the original coppers (much worn) , or given in reproduction in cases when these no longer existed. Some six other uncatalogued subjects are to be found in the British Museum and in private collections. ”

“ To which is prefixed a few Observations on the importance of Æsthetic Science as an Element in Architectural Education,’ 1853. 14. ‘The Harmonic Law of Nature applied to Architectural Design,’ 1855. 15. ‘The Science of Beauty, as developed in Nature and applied in Art,’ 1856. ”

“ After his first return from the continent he produced several Italian figure-pictures, but he soon devoted himself mainly to portraiture, in which he attained success and popularity. His female portraits in particular—among which may be named Mrs. ”