Page:Dictionary of Artists of the English School (1878).djvu/404

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at Bath, where he had retired after a long practice in the Metropolis, and there, in Walcot Street, he died of gout, which had long harassed him, October 12, 1772, leaving an only daughter. Hiscollection of drawings, prints, &c, was sold by Messrs. Langford, at the Piazza, Covent Garden, in January 1773.

SCOTT, Robert, engraver. Was born November 13, 1771, at Lanark, where his father was a skinner and glover. He early showed some ability in drawing with his pen, and was apprenticed in 1787 to Alex- ander Robertson, an engraver at Edin- burgh, who was employed upon the views of old buildings, which then appeared in the ' Scot's Magazine.' He also studied in the Trustees' Academy. He engraved a series of views round Edinburgh, and the plates for Dr. Anderson's l Bee, with many other works. His engravings were careful and well-finished, and he gained the reputation of the first engraver of his day in Scotland. He brought up several pupils who became distinguished. He died in January 1841. • SCOTT, David, R.S.A., history painter. Son of the above. Was born in Edinburgh, October 10 or 12, 1806. and was educated at the High School in tnat city. He early turned to art. and both designed and en- graved for took illustration ; and he engraved, after Stothard, R.A.. a series of designs for Thomson's * Scottisn Melodies.' He then devoted himself to painting, and attempting the grand style, produced, in 1828/ The Hopes of Early Genius Dis- pelled by Death.' In 1830 he was elected an associate of the Scottish Academy, and in 1832 he was enabled to visit Italy, where he made sketches or remembrances of the fine works j>f art in the chief cities. In Rome he continued more than 12 months, including in his studies there anatomy ana painting : and from thence he sent home a large picture, * Family Discord, the House- hold Gods Destroyed. Returning with ex- hausted funds, he settled in Edinburgh in 1834. In the following year he exhibited at the Scottish Academy, and continuing to exhibit there sacred and classic subjects, was elected a member of the Academy. In 1838 and again in 1841, his pictures were selected for prizes by the Committee for Promoting the Fine Arts in Scotland. He sent in competition designs to the two first exhibitions in Westminster Hall, but his works were unnoticed.

He was from his boyhood of a sad tem- perament, and was distressed by his want of success, and failure in gaining public appreciation; but by his great power in drawing and indefatigable application, he completed many large pictures. His great picture, 'Vasco de Gama,' is now in the Board-room at the Trinity House at Leith ; the 'Alchymical Adept Lecturing/ is in

the possession of Sir J. Gibson-Craig ; the 'Dead Rising,' in the collection of Mr. Leathart, of Newcastle. His pictures, grandly and poetically conceived, were wanting in that finish, colour, and taste which could alone render them saleable. A disappointed man, of dreamy and mis- anthropic habits, some of his sad thoughts are embodied in his fragmentary poetry, of which he left many examples. He pub- lished a series of outlines which he called

  • Monograms of Man,' and 25 etched illus-

trations to Coleridge's ' Ancient Mariner,' which were not more successful than his paintings. He also contributed to * Black- wood's Magazine ' a series of papers on the characteristics of the great masters. He died in Edinburgh, March 5, 1849, aged 42. An affectionate memoir of him was published by his brother, a well-known writer on art and also an artist, in 1850.

S C T T , Sir Georqe Gilbert, R. A., Knt., architect. Was bora in 1811, at Gawcott in Buckinghamshire, of which place his father (the son of the author of the ' Commentary on the Bible ' ) was the incumbent. While yet quite young, he began to study and draw from Gothic churches, and this led his father to place him in an architect's olfice, where he learnt the practical part of his profession, but little of the particular style congenial to his own inclinations. However, when he entered into practice for himself, he de- voted himself entirely to Gothic archi- tecture. In 1841, when in partnership with Mr. Moffatt, he designed the ' Mar- tyr's Memorial' at Oxford; and in 1842, after the church of St. Nicholas. Hamburg, had been destroyed by fire, nis designs for a new building were those chosen, in a competition open to all Europe. The spire of tnis church, while those of Cologne remain unfinished, is the highest in the world. Some years later he was again selected to erect the Senate House, and the Hotel de Ville in the same city. In 1848 he designed the Cathedral Church at St. John's, Newfoundland, which is not yet completed. He was largely engaged upon the restoration of many English Cathedrals, those of Ely, Hereford, Ripon, Gloucester, Chester, St. David's, St. Asaph's, Bangor, Salisbury, Exeter, Peterborough, Worcester, Rochester, and Oxford, having been placed under his care, and at the time of his death he had just entered upon the restoration of St. Alban's. Besides this, he re-arranged the interior of Durham Cathedral ; in conjunction with Mr. Slater he reconstructed the central tower and spire of Chichester Cathedral, and also superintended several improvements in the abbey church of Westminster. He built many new churches in various parts of England, and restored many old ones ; his

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