Robert Walker

Robert Walker FRSE (30 April 1755 – 30 June 1808) was a Church of Scotland minister, best known as the subject of the oil painting The Skating Minister by Henry Raeburn.

Life

Walker was born in Monkton in Ayrshire, the son of William Walker, minister of the Scots Church in Rotterdam. after Raeburn returned from a visit to Rome in 1786. The picture remained in the possession of Walker's descendants and virtually unknown for almost 150 years. Having failed to sell the painting at auction in 1914, Walker's great-granddaughter, Beatrix Scott, sold The Skating Minister privately in 1926. It was acquired by the National Gallery of Scotland at a Christie's auction in 1949 for £525.

Family

In May 1778 Walker married Jean Fraser, daughter of John Fraser, a lawyer. They had two daughters and three sons together: Magdalene (b.1779) married Richard Scougal of Leith in 1800, Jane (b.1781) married James Thomson of Leith, John (b.1784) and William (1786–1787) and Robert (b.1788).

Publications

Observations on the National Character of the Dutch (1794) The Psalms of David Methodized (1794) Golf, a Dutch Game (dnk)