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William Nicholson (1781-1844)
The portrait-painter and etcher William Nicholson was born in
Ovingham-on-Tyne, Northumberland, on Christmas Day 1781. His family
transferred to Newcastle when his father was appointed Headmaster
of the city's Grammar School. At an early age, though, Nicholson
appears to have moved to Hull where he made his artistic debut,
painting miniatures of officers garrisoned there. He was almost
entirely self-taught, learning his craft through the close study
of artworks in private and public galleries. He subsequently returned
to Newcastle where he received many commissions to paint portraits
of the old families of Northumberland. In 1808, he began to exhibit
at the Royal Academy, continuing to do so until 1822. By 1814,
Nicholson, whose mother was a Scot, had moved to Edinburgh where
he set up as a miniaturist and painter in oils. Soon, however,
he began to specialize in watercolour portraits. Early subjects
included the actor Daniel Terry and the poet and novelist James
Hogg. In 1818 he began to publish a series of Portraits of
Eminent Scotsmen, etched from his
own portraits and those of other painters. Besides Scott and Hogg,
the subjects included the writers Robert Burns, John Wilson ('Christopher
North'), and Lord Jeffrey, the painters Sir
Henry Raeburn, the divines Alexander Carlyle and Alexander
Cameron, the engineer James Watt, the architect John Playfair,
and the song-collector and composer George Thomson.
In 1821 Nicholson married an Edinburgh woman
Maria Lamb and, in the same year, contributed to the first
modern exhibition of the Institution for the Encouragement
of the Arts in Scotland. In 1826 he was among the most active
founding members of the Scottish Academy of Painting, Sculpture,
and Architecture. At its first meeting he was elected secretary,
a position he held until 1830. He contributed to each of
the Academy's Exhibitions until his death by fever in 1844,
latterly specializing in genre, landscape, and coast subjects
rather than portraits.
Click on the thumbnail to see a full-size
engraving of William Nicholson's portrait of James Hogg
by W.T. Fry
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Nicholson painted three (possibly four) watercolour
portraits of Scott in 1816-17 and etched a further portrait
from his own design in 1817.
Click here for a description,
with links to images. In addition, Nicholson painted watercolour
portraits of Scott's two daughters,
Charlotte Sophia and Anne. Click on
the thumbnails below to see full-size images of engravings of
these paintings by George Baird
Shaw.
Bibliography
- Dictionary of National Biography (London
: Oxford University Press, 1921)
- McEwan, Peter J. M. Dictionary
of Scottish Art & Architecture (Woodbridge, Suffolk:
Antique Collectors' Club, c1994)
- Russell, Francis. Portraits
of Sir Walter Scott: A Study of Romantic Portraiture (London:
The Author, 1987)
- The Scott Exhibition, MDCCCLXXI: Catalogue of the
Exhibition Held at Edinburgh, in July and August 1871, on
Occasion of the Commemoration of the Centenary of the Birth
of Sir Walter Scott (Edinburgh: [s.n.], 1872)
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Last updated: 6-June-2005
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