John Miller Gray (1850-1894) was a Scottish art critic and the first curator of the

Scottish National Portrait Gallery The Scottish National Portrait Gallery is an art museum on Queen Street, Edinburgh. The gallery holds the national collections of portraits, all of which are of, but not necessarily by, Scots. It also holds the Scottish National Photography Co ...

. He was born on 19 July 1850 in Edinburgh, his father a shawl manufacturer who was bankrupted in 1857, his mother dying at his birth. He attended Mr Munro's school in Newington, but was forced aged 16 to finish his education and take up work as an apprentice bank clerk at the

Bank of Scotland The Bank of Scotland plc (Scottish Gaelic: ''Banca na h-Alba'') is a commercial and clearing bank based in Scotland and is part of the Lloyds Banking Group, following the Bank of Scotland's implosion in 2008. The bank was established by th ...

, where he remained for 18 years. Although he detested the work, in his spare time he educated himself about art and worked as a critic. He was particularly influenced by the art critic and writer

Walter Pater Walter Horatio Pater (4 August 1839 – 30 July 1894) was an English essayist, art critic and literary critic, and fiction writer, regarded as one of the great stylists. His first and most often reprinted book, ''Studies in the History of the Re ...

, with whom he corresponded as well as reviewing some of Pater's work including ''

Marius the Epicurean ''Marius the Epicurean: his sensations and ideas'' is a historical and philosophical novel by Walter Pater (his only completed full-length fiction), written between 1881 and 1884, published in 1885 and set in 161–177 AD, in the Rome of the Ant ...

''. Gray was friendly with a number of prominent artists and public figures, including artists

William Bell Scott William Bell Scott (1811–1890) was a Scottish artist in oils and watercolour and occasionally printmaking. He was also a poet and art teacher, and his posthumously published reminiscences give a chatty and often vivid picture of life in the ...

and

Phoebe Anna Traquair Phoebe Anna Traquair (; 24 May 1852 – 4 August 1936) was an Irish-born artist, who achieved international recognition for her role in the Arts and Crafts movement in Scotland, as an illustrator, painter and embroiderer. Her works included lar ...

, and physician and writer

John Brown John Brown most often refers to: *John Brown (abolitionist) (1800–1859), American who led an anti-slavery raid in Harpers Ferry, Virginia in 1859 John Brown or Johnny Brown may also refer to: Academia * John Brown (educator) (1763–1842), Ir ...

. In 1884 he was appointed first curator of the new Scottish National Portrait Gallery, initially at temporary premises and later in

Robert Rowand Anderson Sir Robert Rowand Anderson, (5 April 1834 – 1 June 1921) was a Scottish Victorian architect. Anderson trained in the office of George Gilbert Scott in London before setting up his own practice in Edinburgh in 1860. During the 1860s his ...

's Queen Street building, which opened in 1889. He wrote regularly for periodicals including ''Academy'' and the ''

Edinburgh Evening Courant The ''Edinburgh Courant'' was a Broadsheet, broadsheet newspaper from the 18th century. It was published out of Edinburgh, Midlothian, Scotland. Its first issue was dated February 14–19, 1705 and was sold for a penny. It was Scotland's first re ...

'' and was chief art critic of the ''

Scottish Leader 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 ...

''. His publications included an 1880 book on Scottish artist

George Manson George Manson (3 December 1850 – 27 February 1876) was a Scottish watercolour painter born in Edinburgh. At approximately fifteen years of age, Manson became an apprentice woodcutter with W. & R. Chambers, with whom he remained for over five ...

and several essays on the iconography of

Robert Burns Robert Burns (25 January 175921 July 1796), also known familiarly as Rabbie Burns, was a Scottish poet and lyricist. He is widely regarded as the national poet of Scotland and is celebrated worldwide. He is the best known of the poets who hav ...

. His two-volume ''Memoir and Remains'' was posthumously published by David Douglas in Edinburgh in 1895. He died on 22 March 1894 of a brain haemorrhage, shortly before his 44th birthday, and was buried at Echo Bank cemetery in Newington, Edinburgh. He left most of his estate to the Gallery. A portrait of him by

Patrick William Adam Patrick may refer to: *Patrick (given name), list of people and fictional characters with this name * Patrick (surname), list of people with this name People *Saint Patrick (c. 385–c. 461), Christian saint *Gilla Pátraic (died 1084), Patrick o ...

is in the collection of the Scottish National Portrait Gallery.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gray, John Miller 1850 births 1894 deaths Scottish art critics Writers from Edinburgh