The Royal Scottish Society of Painters in Watercolours (RSW) is a Scottish

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

 organisation of painters.

It was founded in 1876, with the support 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...

, by artists to "promote, through exhibition, the medium of watercolour and encourage the bold, free and colourful qualities of Scottish Painting."

The Society received permission from Queen Victoria to use the prefix "Royal" in 1886 and throughout its history many renowned artists have been members, including Sam Bough

Sam Bough

Sam Bough was an English-born landscape painter who spent much of his career working in Scotland.Born in Carlisle, Cumberland, England he was self-taught and worked as a theatre scenery painter in Manchester and Glasgow. Encouraged by Daniel Macnee to take up landscape painting he moved to...

, William McTaggart

William McTaggart

William McTaggart was a Scottish landscape painter who was influenced by Impressionism.-Life and work:...

 and George Paul Chalmers

George Paul Chalmers

George Paul Chalmers was a Scottish painter.He was born at Montrose, and studied at Trustees Academy in Edinburgh under Robert Scott Lauder . He turned to landscapes later in his career, instead of the portraits which formed his earlier work...

.