DOI Heft:
No. 173 (August, 1907)
DOI Artikel:Baldry, Alfred Lys: Robert W. Little, R.W.S.: a review of his work
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.20775#0207
Robert IV. Little, R.W.S.
boyhood; he went accordingly to the school of art
in Edinburgh in which he had worked for a brief
period some seven years before, and in due course
passed from there into the schools of the Royal
Scottish Academy to study from the life. So rapid
was his progress with proper teaching and the right
kind of opportunities that in less than two years he
began to show his pictures in the exhibitions of the
Royal Scottish Academy and the Glasgow Institute ;
plain proof that he knew how to make the most of
his chances of acquiring the needful command over
executive details. No doubt he was helped by the
more or less desultory work he had done when as
a boy he struggled to solve nature's secrets; his
efforts then had, it can well be imagined, taught
him what were the deficiencies in his knowledge
which were" most likely to hamper him in his
' attempts at pictorial expression; but certainly he
deserves credit for having in so short a time gained
a place among men of recognised ability.
His first exhibited paintings were mostly studies
of interiors and groups of flowers, but his choice of
subjects of this type was not due to any diminution
in his love of landscape. Indeed, even during his
student days he gave much time to out-of-door
work, and among other wanderings in search of
material that pleased him he went on a sketching
tour to Venice and North Italy, from which he
returned with a number of excellent drawings.
In 1882 he spent a winter in Rome, where he
painted several important water-colours, such as
The Janiculum Hill from Tasso's Garden and Rome
from the Aveniine, whch rank among the chief of
his earlier successes. The next four years he
passed chiefly in Edinburgh, working from the
material he had collected abroad, but in 1886 he
stayed for some while in Paris, and, with a quite
commendable desire to obtain a more complete
mastery over his craft, became a student again,
under MM. Courtois and Dagnan-Bouveret. Then
he came back to Scotland and for another four
years devoted himself to landscape, choosing as his
sketching-ground the counties of Fife and Kinross.
Into this period come not only many of his
most successful water-colours but also several oil
paintings like Vespers, Natural Enemies, and The
Old Clock, the last of which, when it was exhibited
at the Royal Scottish Academy in 1889, brought
him many congratulations from the president, Sir
Daniel Macnee, and from other men well qualified
to express an opinion. As further proof of his
growing reputation, it may also be noted that in
the Clyde from glen an " (By permission of W. E. Home, Esq.) by Robert w. little
177
boyhood; he went accordingly to the school of art
in Edinburgh in which he had worked for a brief
period some seven years before, and in due course
passed from there into the schools of the Royal
Scottish Academy to study from the life. So rapid
was his progress with proper teaching and the right
kind of opportunities that in less than two years he
began to show his pictures in the exhibitions of the
Royal Scottish Academy and the Glasgow Institute ;
plain proof that he knew how to make the most of
his chances of acquiring the needful command over
executive details. No doubt he was helped by the
more or less desultory work he had done when as
a boy he struggled to solve nature's secrets; his
efforts then had, it can well be imagined, taught
him what were the deficiencies in his knowledge
which were" most likely to hamper him in his
' attempts at pictorial expression; but certainly he
deserves credit for having in so short a time gained
a place among men of recognised ability.
His first exhibited paintings were mostly studies
of interiors and groups of flowers, but his choice of
subjects of this type was not due to any diminution
in his love of landscape. Indeed, even during his
student days he gave much time to out-of-door
work, and among other wanderings in search of
material that pleased him he went on a sketching
tour to Venice and North Italy, from which he
returned with a number of excellent drawings.
In 1882 he spent a winter in Rome, where he
painted several important water-colours, such as
The Janiculum Hill from Tasso's Garden and Rome
from the Aveniine, whch rank among the chief of
his earlier successes. The next four years he
passed chiefly in Edinburgh, working from the
material he had collected abroad, but in 1886 he
stayed for some while in Paris, and, with a quite
commendable desire to obtain a more complete
mastery over his craft, became a student again,
under MM. Courtois and Dagnan-Bouveret. Then
he came back to Scotland and for another four
years devoted himself to landscape, choosing as his
sketching-ground the counties of Fife and Kinross.
Into this period come not only many of his
most successful water-colours but also several oil
paintings like Vespers, Natural Enemies, and The
Old Clock, the last of which, when it was exhibited
at the Royal Scottish Academy in 1889, brought
him many congratulations from the president, Sir
Daniel Macnee, and from other men well qualified
to express an opinion. As further proof of his
growing reputation, it may also be noted that in
the Clyde from glen an " (By permission of W. E. Home, Esq.) by Robert w. little
177