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
