90 OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. [The Mound,
Sculpture had its origin early in the present
century, though in past times the Scottish School
of ?Painters ranked among its number several
celebrities. Of these the most noted was George
Jameson, born at Aberdeen in 1586; he studied
under Rubens, and won himself the name of the
Scottish Vandyke. Charles I. sat to him for his
portrait, as did many other great Scotsmen of the
period. He was succeeded by the elder Scougal,
a painter of many works ; Scougal the younger ; De
Witte ; Nicolas Hude, a French Protestant refugee;
John Baptist0 Medina, a native of Brussels, whose
son John was a ?( Limner? in Hyndford?s Close
in 1784; Aikman; Wait; Allan Ramsay (son of
the poet); Norrie, the landscape painter;? the
Runcimans, Brown, and latterly David Allan,
Graham, Wilkie, Gibson, Thomson, Raeburn, and
the Watsons.
The first movement towards fostering native
art was, undoubtedly, the appointment by the
Board of Trustees, in 1760, of a permanent
master for the instruction of the youth of both sexes
in drawing, thus Iaying the foundation of a School
of Design. The second important organisation
was that named the ?Institution for the En.
couragement of the Fine Arts,? founded on the 1st
of February, 1819, on the model of the British
Institution of London, for the annual exhibition oi
pictures by old masters, and subsequently those
of living artists. It consisted chiefly of gentlemen,
who, on the payment of A50, became shareholders
or life-members. The first exhibition by the Institution
was in York Place, in March, 1819, but
owing to certain complications between it and
artists generally, they were, even if members, not
permitted to exercise the sliL!itest control over the
funds.
Prior to this time the leading artists resident in
Edinburgh had associated together for the purpose
of having an annual exhibition of their works,
which was also held in York Place. The first of these
occurred in 1808, and Lord Cockburn refers to it
as the most gratifying occurrence of the period, and
as one that ?proclaimed the dawn of modern
Scottish art.?
Among the pictures shown on that auspicious
occasion the catalogue records three by George
Watson, including the portrait of the celebrated
Bishop Hay; three by A. Nasmyth; two by
Douglas, one being a portrait of Mrs. Boswell of
Auchinleck ; three fancy pictures by Case ; ?? The
Fa1 of Buchan crowning Master Gattie,? by W.
Lizars; a black chalk landscape by Thomson;
and in the succeeding year, 1809, the catalogue
mentions, briefly noted, five by Raeburn, including
his Walter Scott; three by Gorge Watson, one
being the ?? Portrait of an Old Scots Jacobite;?
three by Thomson of Duddingston ; a fancy picture
of Queen Mary, by.John Watson, afterwards Sir J.
W. Gordon.
Carse, called the Teniers of Scotland, died early ;
but ?this exhibition did incalculable good. It
drew such artists as we had out of their obscurity;
it showed them their strength and their weakness :
it excited public attention: it gave them importance.?
During five exhibitions, between 1809 and 1813,
the members thus associated saved ,61,888, hut
not being sufficiently restricted by their laws from
dissolving at any time, the sum amassed proved a
temptation, and it was divided among the exhibitors.
The Society then broke up and dispersed, and it
was while they were in this state of disorganisation
that the Directors of the Institution, finding the
old masters not sufficiently attractive to the public,
made overtures to the artists for an exhibition of
modern pictures and sculpture under their auspices,
and to set the proceeds aside for the benefit of the
said artists and their families.
Thus the first exhibition of the works of living
artists under the direction of the Institution took
place in 1821, and it proved such a success that it
was repeated yearly till I 82 9.
The Institution had in 1826, besides one hundred
and thirty-one ordinary members, thirteen
honorary, five of whom were artists, under the title
of Associate Members, and the exhibitions were
held in the Galleries of the Royal Institution, for
which an attnual rent of A380 was paid; but as
great discontent was expressed by artists who
were Associate Members, because they were denied
all consideration in the inanagement in the year
mentioned, they resolved to found a Scottish
Academy.
It was in the summer of 1826 that the document
by which this important movement was inaugurated
went round for signature in the hands otillr. William
Nicholson. When published, twenty-four names
appeared to it : those of thirteen Academicians,
nii e Associates, and two Associate Engravers.
The first general meeting of ?The Scottish
Academy of Painting, Sculpture, and Architecture,?
was held on the 27th of May, 1826, Mr. Patrick
Syme in the chair, and the following gentlemen were
elected as office-bearers for the year :-George
Watson, President ; William Nicholson, Secretmy ;
Thomas Hamilton, Treamrn: The Council consisted
of four.
Mr. George Watson, who has been justly
deemed the founder of the Academy, was the son
The Mound.] GEORGE WATSON, P.R.S.A. 91
of John Watson of Overmains, in Berwickshire,
his mother being Frances Veitch, of the Elliock
fimily. He was a cousin of Sir Walter Scott?s, and
was born in I 767. He studied art under Nasmyth
and Sir Joshua Reynolds, and before the time of
his election had won a high reputation as a portrait
painter. From 1808 to 1812 he was President of
the Associated Artists of Scotland. His brother,
Captain Watson, R.N., was the, father of Sir John
Watson-Gordon, also a president of the Academy ;
and his nephew, William Stewart Watson, was an
artist of some repute, whose chief work is the
?? Inauguration of Burns as Poet Laureate or Grand
Bard,? now in the Masonic Hall, George Street, and,
as a collection of portraits, is historically curious.
George Watson?s son, W. Smellie Watson, was
also R.S.A., and died in No. 10 Forth Street in
1874, the same house in which his father had held
some early exhibitions about the close of the last
century or beginning of the present. ?
The President and Council resolved that the first
exhibition of their infant Academy should take
place early in February, 1827, in two large galleries
which they rented, in 24 Waterloo Place, for three
months at eighty guineas, and subsequently at
one hundred and thirty pounds per annum.
Opposed by those who should have aided it, the
Academy had a hard struggle for a time in the first
years of its existence. Application was made to
the Home Secretary, the future Sir Robert Peel, for
. a charter of incorporation, and it was favourably
viewed by those in office, and submitted to the
Lord Advocate. Eut though the application was
generously and warmly seconded by Sir Thomas
Lawrence, then President of the Royal Academy of
London, it was put off for two years, ?and
ultimately refused,? says Sir George Harvey ?? on
grounds which the Academy could never learn;
and though they applied for permission to do so,
they were never allowed to peruse the document
which induced his lordship to decide against their
claim. . . . Curiously enough, although the
request of the Academy for a charter of incorporation
was at this time denied, the Institution had
that distinction conferred upon it, and henceforth
came to be designated the Royal Institution.?
The first general exhibition of the Scottish
Academy being advertised for February, 1827,
? the Royal Institution, under the immediatepatronage
of His Mq>siY,?? was, in a spirit of genuine
opposition, advertised to open at the same time ; but
by the time of the third Exhibition, ? the Royal
Institution,? says Sir George, ?? was fairly driven
out of the field ; ? and among the contributors were
the future Sir Francis Grant, John Linnell, and
John Martin, and one of Etty?s magnificent works,
now the property of the Academy, was for the first
time hung upon its walls, while many Scottish
artists in London or elsewhere, watched with patriotic
interest the progress of art in their native land,
and the Institution rapidly began to take a
subordinate position ; and by a minute of the 10th
July, 1829, twenty-four of its artists, weary of its
rule, were admitted as members of the Scottish
Academy, thus raising the numerical force of the
latter to thirty-nine. Eventually the number of
Academicians became forty-two. In the rank of
Associate Engravers was the well-known William
Lizars, for as the law stood then he could not
be elected an Academician, engravers being then
limited to the position of Associate, but after a
time they were rendered eligible to occupy any
rank in the Academy.
George Watson, the first President of the Scottish
Academy, died on the 24th of August, 1837, at
No. 10 Forth Street, in his seventieth year. For
a long time previously his occupation of the chair
had been nominal, his age and declining health
precluding his attendance at council meetings-
A white marble slab in the west .wall of the West
Kirkyard marks his grave and that of ? Rebecca.
Smellie, his spouse, who died 5th May, 1839, aged
74 years.?
In the subsequent November William Allan,
RA. (afterwards knighted), was elected president,
and during his term .of office the long-desired
object was accomplished, and the Academy came
to be designated at last ?The Royal Scottish
Academy,? incorporated by royal charter on the
13th of August, 1838, consisting now of thirty
Academicians and twenty Associates-a consummation
of their wishes for which they were greatly
indebted to the warm and earnest interest of Lord
Cockburn.
By its charter the Academy is to consist of artists
by profession, being men of fair moral character and
of high repute in art, settled and resident in Scotland
at the dates of their elections. It ordains that,
there shall be an annual exhibition of paintings,
sculptures, and designs, in which all artists.of distinguished
merit may be permitted to exhibit their
works, to continue open six weeks or longer. It
likewise ordains that so soon as the funds of the
Academy will allow it, there shall be in the Royal
Scottish Academy professors of painting, sculpture,,
architecture, perspective, and anatomy, elected
according to the laws framed for the Royal Academy
of London; and that there shall be schools to
provide the means of studying the human form with
respect both to anatomical knowledge and taste of
