Waller Hugh Paton

Waller Hugh Paton
by George Paul Chalmers

The grave of Waller Hugh Paton, Grange Cemetery, Edinburgh

Waller Hugh Paton RSA RSW (27 July 1828 – 8 March 1895), was a Scottish landscape artist operational in the second half of the 19th century.^[1]

Life

He was born in Wooer’s Alley, Dunfermline, the son of Joseph Neil Paton (1797-1874) a damask designer and Catherine McDiarmid. His brother and sister were also artists: Joseph Noel Paton and Amelia Robertson Hill (the wife of David Octavius Hill). ^[2]

In his teens he worked with his father as a damask designer. From age twenty he trained under the mid-19th century artist, John Houston (1802–1884)^[3] RSA. He was elected an associate of the Royal Scottish Academy (ARSA) in 1857 and became a full member (RSA) in 1865. In 1878 he became a member of the Royal Society of Watercolourists (RSW).

In 1858 he and his brother illustrated William Edmondstoune Aytoun’s book, the “Lays of the Scottish Cavaliers” (published in 1863).^[4]

From 1859 he lived in Edinburgh.

In both 1861 and 1868 he toured the Continent with his friend, Donald MacKenzie Wallace, and brother, Joseph Noel Paton.

In 1862 he married Margaret Kinloch of Maryculter near Aberdeen. They had four sons and three daughters.

He died at his home, 14 George Square, Edinburgh, on 8 March 1895 from pleurisy, which had plagued him for the last 10 years of his life. He is buried in Grange Cemetery in southern Edinburgh.

Principal Works

Paton was one of the few of his generation to work “en plain air”, the then fashion being to complete landscapes in the comfort of a studio. He enjoyed depicting the countryside of Perthshire, Aberdeenshire and especially the Isle of Arran. His work is typified by rich purple sunsets. See : ^[5]

• ”The Antique Room, Wooer’s Alley, by Firelight” (1848)
• ”Glen Massen”, Royal Scottish Academy (1851)
• ”Loch Lomond”, Government Art Collection (1858)
• ”Winter Daybreak”, McLean Museum and Art Gallery, Inverclyde (1864)
• ”Lamlash Bay, Isle of Arran”, Royal Scottish Academy (1865)
• ”Entrance to the Cuiraing, Skye”, National Gallery of Scotland (1873)
• ”The Border Keep”, Welsh National Museum, Cardiff (1875)
• ”Cobbles at Sundown, Arrochar”, Folkestone Library
• ”Craigmillar Castle”, The Fleming Collection
• ”Outlet at Loch Achray, Perthshire”, Fyvie Castle (NTS)

• 

  Lovers in a cornfield

• 

  Railway Bridge over the River Cart, Paisley

• 

  Entrance to the Cuiraing, Skye

References

1.  Lee, Sidney, ed. (1895). "Paton, Waller Hugh". Dictionary of National Biography 44. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
2. Dictionary of National Biography: Waller Hugh Paton
3. Brydall, Robert (1889). Art in Scotland: Its Origin and Progress. Edinburgh; London: William Blackwood and Sons. pp. 422–423.
4. Lays of the Scottish Cavaliers in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
5. http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/artists/waller-hugh-paton

• Oxford Dictionary of National Biography: Waller Hugh Paton
• Dictionary of Scottish Art and Architecture, 2004