Robert Walker Macbeth (30 September 1848 – 1 November 1910) was a Scottish painter, etcher and

watercolourist Watercolor (American English) or watercolour (British English; see spelling differences), also ''aquarelle'' (; from Italian diminutive of Latin ''aqua'' "water"), is a painting method”Watercolor may be as old as art itself, going back to t ...

, specialising in pastoral landscape and the rustic genre. His father was the portrait painter

Norman Macbeth Norman Macbeth (Greenock 1821 – 27 February 1888 London) was a Scottish portraitist. Life He was born at Greenock, where his father James Macbeth was an excise official. He served a seven years' apprenticeship as an engraver in Glasgow ...

and his niece

Ann Macbeth Ann Macbeth (25 September 1875 – 23 March 1948 ) was a British embroiderer, designer, teacher and author, a member of the Glasgow Movement and an associate of Charles Rennie Mackintosh. She was also an active suffragette and designed ba ...

. Two of his five brothers,

James Macbeth James is a common English language surname and given name: *James (name), the typically masculine first name James * James (surname), various people with the last name James James or James City may also refer to: People * King James (disambiguat ...

(1847–1891) and Henry Macbeth, later Macbeth-Raeburn (1860–1947), were also artists.

Life

Born in

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

, Macbeth studied art in London, producing realistic everyday scenes and working as an illustrator for the weekly newspaper ''

The Graphic ''The Graphic'' was a British weekly illustrated newspaper, first published on 4 December 1869 by William Luson Thomas's company Illustrated Newspapers Ltd. Thomas's brother Lewis Samuel Thomas was a co-founder. The premature death of the latt ...

''. He painted in the Lincolnshire and Somerset countryside, his landscape work influenced by that of

George Heming Mason George Heming Mason (11 March 1818 in Stoke-on-Trent – 22 October 1872 in London) was a British landscape painter of rural scenes, initially in Italy, then England itself. He was also known as "George Mason" or "George Hemming Mason". Li ...

and Frederick Walker. His ''The Cast Shoe'' was bought by the

Chantrey Bequest Sir Francis Leggatt Chantrey (7 April 1781 – 25 November 1841) was an English sculptor. He became the leading portrait sculptor in Regency era Britain, producing busts and statues of many notable figures of the time. Chantrey's most notable w ...

in 1890 and is now at

Tate Britain Tate Britain, known from 1897 to 1932 as the National Gallery of British Art and from 1932 to 2000 as the Tate Gallery, is an art museum on Millbank in the City of Westminster in London, England. It is part of the Tate network of galleries in ...

. From 1871 Macbeth exhibited at the

Royal Academy The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly in London. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its pur ...

, the

Royal Society of Portrait Painters The Royal Society of Portrait Painters is a charity based at Carlton House Terrace, SW1, London that promotes the practice and appreciation of portraiture. Its Annual Exhibition of portraiture is held at Mall Galleries, and it runs a commissio ...

, the

Grosvenor Gallery The Grosvenor Gallery was an art gallery in London founded in 1877 by Sir Coutts Lindsay and his wife Blanche. Its first directors were J. Comyns Carr and Charles Hallé. The gallery proved crucial to the Aesthetic Movement because it provided ...

, the New Gallery, and the

Fine Art Society The Fine Art Society is a gallery based in both London and in Edinburgh's New Town (originally Bourne Fine Art, established 1978). The New Bond Street, London gallery closed its doors in August 2018 after being occupied by The Fine Art Society si ...

, all in

Westminster Westminster is an area of Central London, part of the wider City of Westminster. The area, which extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street, has many visitor attractions and historic landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, Bu ...

. There were also exhibitions in the regions at the

Royal Birmingham Society of Artists The Royal Birmingham Society of Artists or RBSA is an art society, based in the Jewellery Quarter in Birmingham, England, where it owns and operates an art gallery, the RBSA Gallery, on Brook Street, just off St Paul's Square. It is both a re ...

in Birmingham, the

Royal Scottish Academy The Royal Scottish Academy (RSA) is the country’s national academy of art. It promotes contemporary Scottish art. The Academy was founded in 1826 by eleven artists meeting in Edinburgh. Originally named the Scottish Academy, it became the ...

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

, the

Royal Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts The Royal Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts (RGI) is an independent organisation in Glasgow, founded in 1861, which promotes contemporary art and artists in Scotland. The institute organizes the largest and most prestigious annual art exhibitio ...

, the

Walker Art Gallery The Walker Art Gallery is an art gallery in Liverpool, which houses one of the largest art collections in England outside London. It is part of the National Museums Liverpool group. History of the Gallery The Walker Art Gallery's collection ...

in Liverpool and

Manchester Art Gallery Manchester Art Gallery, formerly Manchester City Art Gallery, is a publicly owned art museum on Mosley Street in Manchester city centre. The main gallery premises were built for a learned society in 1823 and today its collection occupies three c ...

. In the same year (1871) Macbeth was made an associate of the

Royal Watercolour Society The Royal Watercolour Society is a British institution of painters working in watercolours. The Society is a centre of excellence for water-based media on paper, which allows for a diverse and interesting range of approaches to the medium of wa ...

(RWS) becoming a full member in 1901. He became a member of the

Royal Society of Painter-Etchers and Engravers The Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers (RE), known until 1991 as the Royal Society of Painter-Etchers and Engravers, is a leading art institution based in London, England. The Royal Society of Painter-Etchers, as it was originally styled, was ...

(RE) in 1880, and an honorary member in 1909. In 1882 he was elected a member of the

Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours The Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours (RI), initially called the New Society of Painters in Water Colours, is one of the societies in the Federation of British Artists, based in the Mall Galleries in London. History In 1831 the so ...

(RI) and in 1883 was elected to be a member of the

Royal Institute of Oil Painters The Royal Institute of Oil Painters, also known as ROI, is an association of painters in London, England, and is the only major art society which features work done only in oil. It is a member society of the Federation of British Artists. Histor ...

(ROI). In 1883 he was elected an associate of the Royal Academy (RA), becoming a full member in 1903. On 9 August 1887, he married Lydia Esther, daughter of General Bates of the Bombay native cavalry. Their daughter, Phillis Macbeth, was better known as the actress

Lydia Bilbrook Lydia Bilbrook (6 May 1888 – 4 January 1990; sometimes credited as Bilbrooke) was an English actress whose career spanned four decades, first as a stage performer in the West End, and later in films. Bilbrook made her first stage appearan ...

. He died at Holder's Green, near Lindsell, Essex. 1895 Macbeth painted a mural, ''Opening of the Royal Exchange by Her Majesty Queen Victoria, 28th October 1844'', which can be seen in the

Royal Exchange, London The Royal Exchange in London was founded in the 16th century by the merchant Sir Thomas Gresham on the suggestion of his factor Richard Clough to act as a centre of commerce for the City of London. The site was provided by the City of London Cor ...

Gallery

] ''

References

Bibliography

*J. L. Caw,
Scottish Painting 1620–1908
' (Edinburgh; London: T.C. & E.C. Jack, 1908). *Christopher Wood, The Dictionary of Victorian Painters, Woodbridge, 1971 *Johnson, J., and Anna Gruetzner Robins, ''The Dictionary of British Artists 1880–1940'' (Woodbridge, 1980) * Giles Walkley, ''Artists' houses in London 1764–1914'' (Aldershot, 1994). *Donato Esposito, 'Robert Walker Macbeth (1848–1910)’, in ''Frederick Walker and the Idyllists'' (London: Lund Humphries, 2017), pp. 137–57.

External links

*
Portraits of RW Macbeth
at the National Portrait Gallery (United Kingdom), National Portrait Gallery
Biography

{{DEFAULTSORT:Macbeth, Robert Walker 1848 births 1910 deaths 19th-century Scottish painters Scottish male painters 20th-century Scottish painters Artists from Glasgow Scottish watercolourists Scottish landscape painters Artists' Rifles soldiers Royal Academicians 19th-century Scottish male artists 20th-century Scottish male artists