Peter Graham, R.A., R.S.A. (1838-1921)

Peter Graham (1838-1921), R.A., R.S.A., was one of the many talented Scottish artists who trained at the Trustees' Academy in Edinburgh under Robert Scott Lauder. Although he worked on figure subjects at first, a holiday in Deeside in 1859 inspired him to turn towards landscape painting (See "Peter Graham"). One of the other important influences on him was the poetry of Sir Walter Scott. Having been well received at the Royal Scottish Academy, where he started exhibiting in 1855, he also made a name for himself in England, becoming an Associate of the Royal Academy in London in 1877 — none too soon, according to his biographer, W. Matthews Gilbert (see p. 12). He was elected a full Royal Academician at the end of 1881, and a Senior Royal Academician in 1919. Although he had a "large old-fashioned house standing in its own grounds" called Westoun in St Andrew's, Fife, he now spent half the year at a house in Buckinghamshire, where, however, he kept about some Highland cattle "which as occasion required did duty as artist's models.... Generally speaking," says Gilbert, "a canvas is begun at St Andrews and finished in London" (31). — Jacqueline Banerjee

Paintings

Bibliography

The Building News and Engineering Journal, Volume 47. Google Books. Web. 16 March 2019.

Gilbert, W. Matthews. The Life and Work of Peter Graham, R.A.. London: The Art Journal office, 1899 [a very limited view is available in Google Books].

Lambourne, Lionel. Victorian Painting. London and New York: Phaidon, 1999.

MacLeod, Anne. From an Antique Land: Visual Representations of the Highlands and Islands, 1700-1880. Edinburgh: Berlinn, 2013 (eBook edition; see Chapter 5).

"Peter Graham (Scottish, 1836-1921)." National Galleries Scotland. Web. 16 March 2019.

"Scottish Landscape: The Art of Mr. Peter Graham." The Review of Reviews, Vol. 20 (1899) [a very limited view is available in Google Books].

Created 17 March 2019