David Ramsay Hay (March 1798, Edinburgh – 10 September 1866) was a Scottish artist, interior decorator and colour theorist.

Life

The grave of David Ramsay Hay, Warriston Cemetery, Edinburgh

David Ramsay Hay was the son of Rebekah or Rebecca Carmichael, a published poet and friend of Robert Burns. They lived at the foot of Monteith's Close off the Royal Mile in

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian on the southern shore o ...

. After her husband died prematurely and penniless, David was educated at the expense of her brother, David Ramsay, a banker and owner of the ''Edinburgh Evening Courant'', then apprenticed as a reading-boy in Ramsay's printing office in

. Instead though (around 1813), Hay moved to join Gavin Beugo (son of John Beugo) a decorative artist, based on West Register Street in

Edinburgh's New Town The New Town is a central area of Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. It was built in stages between 1767 and around 1850, and retains much of its original neo-classical and Georgian period architecture. Its best known street is Princes Street ...

. His fellow-apprentice was his friend, the topographical artist David Roberts. In April 1820 he commenced work at Abbotsford for

Walter Scott Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet (15 August 1771 – 21 September 1832), was a Scottish novelist, poet, playwright and historian. Many of his works remain classics of European and Scottish literature, notably the novels ''Ivanhoe'', '' Rob Roy' ...

. In 1850 he decorated

Holyroodhouse The Palace of Holyroodhouse ( or ), commonly referred to as Holyrood Palace or Holyroodhouse, is the official residence of the British monarch in Scotland. Located at the bottom of the Royal Mile in Edinburgh, at the opposite end to Edinburgh ...

for

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 216 days was longer than that of any previ ...

. In the 1920s, Queen Mary had these decorative schemes painted over, but watercolours commissioned by Victoria in 1863 give some idea of their appearance. Hay was an advocate of imitative finishes such as graining and marbling, and textured paints to imitate brocade fabrics. From 1828, he developed his theory of colour harmony over six successive editions of his book, ''The Laws of Harmonious Colouring Adapted to Interior Decorations''. Hay wrote about his experience decorating Abbotsford for Walter Scott in the sixth edition of his ''Harmonious Colouring''. In his final years he had exclusive premises at 90 George Street in the centre of Edinburgh's New Town. He died in

on 10 September 1866. He is buried in

Warriston Cemetery Warriston Cemetery is a cemetery in Edinburgh. It 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 s ...

in the north of the city. The substantial tombstone stands to the south-west of the sealed eastern entrance. The monument is vandalised and the original bronze bas-relief sculpture of his profile has been stolen.

Publications

see *''The Laws of Harmonious Colouring in House Painting'' (1828) *''The Natural Principles and Analogy of the Harmony of Form'' (1842) *''Proportion: or the Geometric Principle of Beauty Analysed'' (1843) *''First Principles of Symmetrical Beauty'' (1846) *''The Science of Beauty'' (1856) "A Nomenclature of Colours" (1845)

References

External links

National Portrait Gallery page with biography of Hay

Rebekah Carmichael
at the Eighteenth-Century Poetry Archive (ECPA)
Carmichael, Rebekah, ''Poems by Miss Carmichael'', Edinburgh (1790)
(list of subscribers names of interest)
Hay, David Ramsay, ''The Laws of Harmonious Colouring Adapted to Interior Decorations'', 3rd edition (1836)
* ''The Laws of Harmonious Colouring Adapted to Interior Decorations'', 6th edition (1847)
Hay, David Ramsay, ''Proportion or, The Laws of Beauty Analysed'', Blackwood (1843)

Hay, David Ramsay, ''The Principles of Beauty in Colouring Systematized'', Blackwood (1845)

Hay, David Ramsay, ''First Principles of Symmetrical Beauty'', Blackwood (1846)

Hay, David Ramsay, ''The Natural Principle of Beauty, as developed in the Human Figure'', Blackwood (1852)

Hay, David Ramsay, ''The Harmonic Law of Nature Applied to Architectural Design'', Blackwood (1855)

Hay, David Ramsay, ''The Science of Beauty: as developed in Applied Art and Nature'', Blackwood (1856)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hay, David Ramsay Scottish interior designers 1798 births 1866 deaths Artists from Edinburgh 19th-century Scottish writers 19th-century Scottish painters Scottish male painters Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Scottish non-fiction writers Scottish art critics Color scientists Scottish watercolourists Scottish businesspeople 19th-century British businesspeople 19th-century Scottish male artists