Andrew Robertson self-portrait on ivory 1811

Andrew Robertson (1777–1845) was a

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

miniaturist A portrait miniature is a miniature portrait painting, usually executed in gouache, watercolor, or enamel. Portrait miniatures developed out of the techniques of the miniatures in illuminated manuscripts, and were popular among 16th-century eli ...

painter.

Biography

Andrew Robertson was born in

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...

in 1777. He was the brother of

Alexander Alexander is a male given name. The most prominent bearer of the name is Alexander the Great, the king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia who created one of the largest empires in ancient history. Variants listed here are Aleksandar, Al ...

and

Archibald Robertson Archibald or Archie Robertson may refer to: Sports *Archie Robertson (footballer) (1929–1978), Scottish footballer * Archie Robertson (shinty player) (born 1950), ex-shinty player Others *Archibald Robertson (painter) (1765–1835), Scottish bor ...

, who were also painters.

Works

Robertson's self-portrait hangs in the

National Portrait Gallery, London The National Portrait Gallery (NPG) is an art gallery in London housing a collection of portraits of historically important and famous British people. It was arguably the first national public gallery dedicated to portraits in the world when it ...

. Robertson created a new style of miniature portrait that became dominant by the middle of the nineteenth century; at least four examples are held in the

Victoria and Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (often abbreviated as the V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.27 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and nam ...

. He broke with previous styles, particularly the work of

Richard Cosway Richard Cosway (5 November 1742 – 4 July 1821) was a leading English portrait painter of the Georgian and Regency era, noted for his miniatures. He was a contemporary of John Smart, George Engleheart, William Wood, and Richard Crosse. ...

, and was critical of these earlier painters, describing their works as 'pretty things but not pictures'. Robertson's style included larger and more detail paintings, usually rectangular, and with a use of paint trying to emulate large oils on canvas, adding more gum to the paint to give it a greater lustre and depth of colour.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Robertson, Andrew 1777 births 1845 deaths Scottish painters 19th-century Scottish painters Scottish portrait painters