Robert Scott Lauder
Encyclopedia
Victorian era
The Victorian era of British history was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. It was a long period of peace, prosperity, refined sensibilities and national self-confidence...
artist who described himself as a "historical painter". He was one of the original members of the Royal Scottish Academy
Royal Scottish Academy
The Royal Scottish Academy is a Scottish organisation that promotes contemporary Scottish art. Founded in 1826, as the Royal Institution for the Encouragement of the Fine Arts, the RSA maintains a unique position in Scotland as an independently funded institution led by eminent artists and...
.
Life and work
Lauder was born at SilvermillsSilvermills
Silvermills once an ancient village, has been part of the Edinburgh New Town since 1809.As the name suggests, the village was centred around a mill for Silver...
, Edinburgh
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...
, on 25 June 1803, the third son of John Lauder of Silvermills (died 1838), Burgess of Edinburgh and proprietor of the tannery
Tanning
Tanning is the making of leather from the skins of animals which does not easily decompose. Traditionally, tanning used tannin, an acidic chemical compound from which the tanning process draws its name . Coloring may occur during tanning...
at Silvermills, by his wife Helen Tait (d.1850). After attending the Royal High School
Royal High School (Edinburgh)
The Royal High School of Edinburgh is a co-educational state school administered by the City of Edinburgh Council. The school was founded in 1128 and is one of the oldest schools in Scotland, and has, throughout its history, been high achieving, consistently attaining well above average exam results...
he went to London, where his eldest brother William was engaged in the family business.
He returned to Edinburgh about 1826 and was elected one of the original members of the Royal Scottish Academy
Royal Scottish Academy
The Royal Scottish Academy is a Scottish organisation that promotes contemporary Scottish art. Founded in 1826, as the Royal Institution for the Encouragement of the Fine Arts, the RSA maintains a unique position in Scotland as an independently funded institution led by eminent artists and...
in 1830. On 9 September 1833 at St.Cuthberts in Edinburgh he married Isabella Ramsay Thomson and they then went abroad, accompanied by his younger artist-brother, James Eckford Lauder
James Eckford Lauder
James Eckford Lauder was a notable mid-Victorian Scottish artist, famous for both portraits and historical pictures....
. Robert studied for some years in Rome, Florence
Florence
Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with approximately 370,000 inhabitants, expanding to over 1.5 million in the metropolitan area....
, Bologna
Bologna
Bologna is the capital city of Emilia-Romagna, in the Po Valley of Northern Italy. The city lies between the Po River and the Apennine Mountains, more specifically, between the Reno River and the Savena River. Bologna is a lively and cosmopolitan Italian college city, with spectacular history,...
, Venice
Venice
Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...
and Munich
Munich
Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
.
Lauder returned to London in 1838 where he lived for several years, where his three children – Isabella, John, and Robert, were baptised at St.Thomas’s Church, Southwark
Southwark
Southwark is a district of south London, England, and the administrative headquarters of the London Borough of Southwark. Situated east of Charing Cross, it forms one of the oldest parts of London and fronts the River Thames to the north...
, in 1840, 1841, and 1844. Whilst in London he exhibited at the Royal Academy
Royal Academy
The Royal Academy of Arts is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly, London. The Royal Academy of Arts has a unique position in being an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects whose purpose is to promote the creation, enjoyment and...
and competed in the Westminster Hall competition of 1847, sending his Christ walking on the Sea, which was subsequently purchased by Lady Angela Burdett-Coutts, 1st Baroness Burdett-Coutts
Angela Burdett-Coutts, 1st Baroness Burdett-Coutts
Angela Georgina Burdett-Coutts, 1st Baroness Burdett-Coutts , born Angela Georgina Burdett, was a nineteenth-century philanthropist, the daughter of Sir Francis Burdett, 5th Baronet and the former Sophia Coutts, daughter of banker Thomas Coutts...
. He became the first president of the short-lived National Institution of Fine Arts
National Institution of Fine Arts
The National Institution of Fine Arts was a short-lived Victorian-era art society founded in London to provide alternative exhibition space for artists...
and also exhibited there.
He later removed back to Edinburgh in 1849 where both his sons — Robert Scott Lauder (born 1844), who became a physician, and John Thomson Lauder (1841–1865) — attended the Edinburgh Academy
Edinburgh Academy
The Edinburgh Academy is an independent school which was opened in 1824. The original building, in Henderson Row on the northern fringe of the New Town of Edinburgh, Scotland, is now part of the Senior School...
.
Sir Walter Scott
Walter Scott
Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet was a Scottish historical novelist, playwright, and poet, popular throughout much of the world during his time....
's novels provided him with subjects for many of his most successful historical paintings. About 1860 he suffered a paralytic stroke
Stroke
A stroke, previously known medically as a cerebrovascular accident , is the rapidly developing loss of brain function due to disturbance in the blood supply to the brain. This can be due to ischemia caused by blockage , or a hemorrhage...
and did not practice after 1861. He died at Edinburgh from a bout of bronchitis on 21 April 1869, still paralysed. He is buried in Warriston Cemetery
Warriston Cemetery
Warriston Cemetery lies in Warriston, one of the northern suburbs of Edinburgh, Scotland. It was built by the then newly formed Edinburgh Cemetery Company, and occupies around of land on a slightly sloping site...
in Edinburgh.
Selected paintings
Key works:- Scene from The Bride of LammermoorThe Bride of LammermoorThe Bride of Lammermoor is a historical novel by Sir Walter Scott, set in Scotland in the reign of Queen Anne . The novel tells of a tragic love affair between Lucy Ashton and her family's enemy Edgar Ravenswood. Scott indicated the plot was based on an actual incident...
(1839) - The Trial of Effie Deans (1840)
- Meg Merrilies (1842)
- HannahHannah (Bible)Hannah is the wife of Elkanah mentioned in the Books of Samuel. According to the Hebrew Bible she was the mother of Samuel...
presenting Samuel to Eli (1845) - Mother and Child (1848)
- Sentinels
- Christ Teacheth Humility (1847)
- John Gibson LockhartJohn Gibson LockhartJohn Gibson Lockhart , was a Scottish writer and editor. He is best known as the author of the definitive "Life" of Sir Walter Scott...
(Portrait) - Reverend John ThomsonReverend John ThomsonThe Reverend John Thomson was the minister of Duddingston Kirk near Edinburgh, Scotland and a distinguished amateur landscape painter.-Early life:...
of Duddingstone (Portrait) - William SimsonWilliam SimsonWilliam Simson was a Scottish portrait, landscape and subject painter.-Biography:Simson was born at Dundee in 1800. He studied under Andrew Wilson at the Trustees' Academy in Edinburgh, and his early pictures of landscape and marine subjects found quick sales...
, R.S.A. (Portrait) - Hagar & Ishmael (1840)
Other pictures of note are:
- Italian Goatherds entertaining a brother of the Santissima Trinita (1843)
- Ruth "so she gleaned in the field until even" (1845) (see Book of RuthBook of RuthThe Book of Ruth is one of the books of the Hebrew Bible, Tanakh, or Old Testament. In the Jewish canon the Book of Ruth is included in the third division, or the Writings . In the Christian canon the Book of Ruth is placed between Judges and 1 Samuel...
) - The Gow Chrom Reluctantly Conducting the Glee Maiden to a Place of Safety (1846)
- Christ and the Woman Taken in Adultery
Other portraits of note are:
- Sir Archibald AlisonSir Archibald Alison, 1st BaronetSir Archibald Alison, 1st Baronet FRSE was a Scottish advocate and historian. He held several prominent legal appointments. He was the younger son of the Episcopalian cleric and author Archibald Alison...
, Bt. - Thomas Duncan
- John Henning
- Elizabeth Lauder, Mrs. William Paterson, with her daughter Janet
- Henry Lauder (the artist's brother) painted .
- Sir Thomas Dick LauderThomas Dick LauderSir Thomas Dick Lauder of Fountainhall, 7th Baronet, FRSE FSA was a Scottish author. He served as Secretary to the Board of Manufactures , on the Herring Fisheries Board, at the Royal Institution for the Encouragement of the Fine Arts, and as Deputy Lieutenant of both counties of Moray and...
- Robert Scott Lauder (self)
- John Gibson LockhartJohn Gibson LockhartJohn Gibson Lockhart , was a Scottish writer and editor. He is best known as the author of the definitive "Life" of Sir Walter Scott...
, with Charlotte Scott - David RobertsDavid Roberts (painter)David Roberts RA was a Scottish painter. He is especially known for a prolific series of detailed lithograph prints of Egypt and the Near East that he produced during the 1840s from sketches he made during long tours of the region . These, and his large oil paintings of similar subjects, made him...
(1840) - David Scott
- Sir John SteellJohn SteellSir John Robert Steell RSA was a Scottish sculptor. He was born in Aberdeen on 18 September 1804, but his family moved to Edinburgh around one year after his birth. He is best known for a number of sculptures displayed in Edinburgh, including the statue of Sir Walter Scott at the Scott Monument...
- Thomas ThomsonThomas ThomsonThomas Thomson FRS FRSE FLS FFPSG MWS was a Scottish chemist and mineralogist whose writings contributed to the early spread of Dalton's atomic theory.He was the inventor of the saccharometer.- Life and work :...