Chapter L · (continued 2)

George P. Chalmers was born in Montrose in 1836, where he received the rudiments of education. He studied art at the Trustees’ Academy in Edinburgh, and worked carefully and assiduously, and by persistent effort he attained a fine artistic style. He was gifted with keen imaginative and realistic powers, which gave high promise of eminence. He executed a number of admirable paintings, both in portraiture and landscape, and was elected a member of the Royal Scottish Academy in 1867. But his career was suddenly terminated by an accident which resulted in his death in February, 1878, in his forty-second year.

William B. Scott, a brother of David Scott, was born in Edinburgh, and studied under Sir William Allan in the Royal Academy. He afterwards settled in London, where his pictures were exhibited at the Royal Academy for a long series of years. He was for many years director of the Newcastle Government School of Art; and gradually his reputation became widely known. He produced a series of eight large pictures, original in design and vigorously executed, illustrating the history of Northumberland, for Sir W. C. Trevelyan, Baronet, to decorate Wellington Hall. This series was exhibited at the French Gallery in London in 1861. He also occasionally occupied his attention with literature, wrote and published a biography of his brother David, some pieces of poetry, and several other writings. He died on the 22nd of November, 1890.

The names of Scottish painters noticed in this section forms a pretty long list, but it should be understood that it is not presented as an exhaustive one; enough, however, has been adduced to show that the culture of painting and art had made considerable progress in Scotland during this period, and especially in the present century. It may be observed, too, that in this branch, as in many other departments, Scotsmen have contributed something to the richness of English Art; and if they have learned something from the south side of the Tweed, they have done more than repaid it.

In the last century some indications of a revival of sculpture appeared in Scotland, though little progress was made till the present century. Thomas Campbell was born in Edinburgh on the 1st of May, 1790. Originally he was a marble-cutter. Carving a chimney-piece in the house of Gilbert Innes of Stow, this gentleman was much pleased with his intelligence and promise, and gave him means to enable him to prosecute the study of sculpture. He went to London, and attended the classes of the Royal Academy. In 1818 he proceeded to Rome, where he studied for several years. He ultimately attained distinction, and received many commissions. He worked both in bronze and in marble, and executed many statues, and also busts. Among his works may be mentioned:​—a marble statue of the Duke of Wellington, a statue of Queen Victoria at Windsor Castle, and the granite statue of the fifth Duke of Gordon at Aberdeen.

Laurence Macdonald was born at Boneybrow, Findo-Gask, in Perthshire, on the 15th of February, 1799. In the winter of 1822 he studied for a short time at the Trustees’ Academy in Edinburgh. The same year he went to Rome, where he studied earnestly, and executed several busts. In 1826 he returned to Edinburgh, and executed busts of Professor John Wilson and George Combe, the phrenologist. He produced many busts; and in 1829 he exhibited his works in the Royal Academy, and the Royal Institution, Edinburgh. He returned to Rome in 1832, where he held a leading position as a sculptor, chiefly in executing portrait busts. He executed a bust of Sir Walter Scott. He died on the 4th of March, 1878.

Sir John Steel was born in Aberdeen in 1804, a son of a woodcarver. He early manifested a taste for sculpture, in which he eventually attained distinction. He settled in Edinburgh, and executed many fine statues and busts. He died on the 15th of September, 1891.

William Brodie was born in 1815. He was a distinguished sculptor, highly gifted with fine ideal and realising powers. He was a remarkably quiet and unassuming man. He died in Edinburgh in 1881. His brother, Alexander Brodie, born in 1829, was also a sculptor of promise. His chief work was a marble statue of Queen Victoria, which he executed for the city of Aberdeen. He died in 1867, at the age of thirty-eight.

Henry B. Smith was born in Aberdeen in 1857. He executed a considerable number of small busts in marble. His chief work was a bronze statue of Burns, which was unveiled in Aberdeen on the 17th of September 1892. He was a sculptor of great promise. He died on the 16th of April 1893, at the early age of thirty-six.

In short, the progress of art in Scotland is one of the most striking facts in the recent history of civilisation. The chief cities have their academies, institutes, and schools of art, galleries and museums; and even many of the smaller towns show their appreciation of art in many ways. Let us hope that the culture of art, in all its branches, shall be still more widely diffused in the future than it has been in past; that the resources of elevated feeling and refined enjoyment may continue to be opened and expanded.