George Reid

Sir George Reid PRSA (31 October 1841 – 9 February 1913) was a Scottish artist.

Early life and education Reid was born in Aberdeen in 1841, the son of George Reid (1803–1882) and his wife Esther Tait (1811–1892).

He developed an early passion for drawing, which led to his being apprenticed in 1854 for seven years to Messrs Keith & Gibb, lithographers in Aberdeen. In 1861 Reid took lessons from an itinerant portrait-painter, William Niddrie, who had been a pupil of James Giles, R.S.A., and afterwards entered as a student in the school of the board of trustees in Edinburgh.

Career

Reid returned to Aberdeen to paint landscapes and portraits for any sum which his work could command. His first portrait to attract attention, from its fine quality, was that of George Macdonald, the poet and novelist (now the property of the University of Aberdeen). His early landscapes were conscientiously painted in the open air and on the spot. But Reid soon came to see that such work was inherently false, painted as it was day after day under varying conditions of light and shade. Accordingly, in 1865 he proceeded to Utrecht to study under Alexander Mollinger, in 1882. In 1891 he was elected President of the academy - a post which he held until 1902. He received also the honour of a knighthood, and he was awarded a gold medal at the Paris Exhibition of 1900.

In later life he lived at 22 Royal Terrace on Calton Hill. He died in Somerset on 9 February 1913. His body was returned to Aberdeen, where he is buried with his parents in St Peter's Cemetery in the north of the city. The unusual Roman style memorial stands in front of a more traditional wall memorial on the north wall of the cemetery near the north-east corner.

Known works

Alexander Bain, University of Aberdeen Arthur James Balfour, University of Edinburgh Henry Calderwood, University of Edinburgh Portrait of James Edward Crombie FRSE, Aberdeen Art Galleries John Ritchie Findlay, Scottish National Portrait Gallery Robert Flint, University of Edinburgh Alexander Campbell Fraser, University of Edinburgh Alderman Sir James Hoy, Manchester Art Galleries David Masson, University of Edinburgh Robert Rainy, University of Edinburgh Very Rev Paton James Gloag (Gloag family) Peter Guthrie Tait, University of Edinburgh Sir John Usher of Norton and Wells, Usher baronets, University of Edinburgh Edith Mary Field, aged 15, oil painting dated 1873, Anthony J. Lester, FRSA James Franck Bright, DD, Master, University College, Oxford http://www.univ.ox.ac.uk/file/james-franck-bright Richard Claverhouse Jebb, Cambridge University Charles Chalmers, President of the Society of Advocates in Aberdeen James Drummond, Principal, Manchester College Oxford (forerunner of Harris Manchester College, Oxford) William Shore, Huntsman to the Duke of Buccleuch, hung at Bowhill House

Family

His brothers, Archibald David Reid and Samuel Reid (born 1854), were also artists.

His wife Margaret (1840–1923) was also from Aberdeen.

Portraits by artist