About this artwork

  • artist:
  • title:
    Sir William Gibson Craig, 1797 - 1878. Lord Clerk Register
  • date created:
    About 1852
  • materials:
    Oil on canvas
  • measurements:
    238.40 x 148.00 cm; Framed: 291.50 x 199.00 x 24.00 cm
  • object type:
  • credit line:
    Given by the Royal Scottish Academy 1910
  • accession number:
    PG 711
  • gallery:
  • depicted:
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Sir John Watson Gordon

Sir John Watson Gordon

John Watson Gordon was training to become an army engineer when, encouraged by his uncle, the painter, George Watson, and Raeburn, who was a family friend, he decided to become an artist. His first works were subject pictures but, after Raeburn's death in 1823, he established himself as the leading portrait painter in Scotland. His style was at first closely based on Raeburn but was later more influenced by his admiration for Velázquez. In 1850 he was elected President of the Royal Scottish Academy, appointed Queen's Limner for Scotland and knighted.