Details

Name

Robert Herdman

Brief Biography

1829 - 1888, Scottish

Occupation

Artist

Description

The youngest of a parish minister’s four sons, Herdman attended the parish school in Rattray until 1838 when his father died and the family moved to St Andrews. Aged 15, Herdman went to St Andrews University with the intention of becoming a minister like his father. Painting soon became a dominant interest and in 1847, he went to Edinburgh and enrolled at the Trustees’ Academy where he was taught by Robert Scott Lauder.

Lauder’s influence on Herdman was considerable. More than any other of Lauder’s famous students, Herdman remained faithful to his teacher’s values throughout his career. Herdman was a regular recipient of prizes at the Academy for drawing and painting from the life model. In 1853 he was selected by the Trustees Academy to go to Italy to paint watercolour copies of works by the Italian masters.

Herman completed his training by spending a year in Italy (1855-56) where he studied a variety of sources, ranging from Masaccio and Filippino Lippi, through to Raphael and Tintoretto. On his return to Scotland, Herdman became a regular exhibitor at the Royal Academy in London and at the Royal Scottish Academy in Edinburgh. He became an associate of the latter in 1858 and a full academician in 1863.

He became well known as a portraitist, genre and historical narrative painter, often painting subjects from Scottish history. These were observed through a romantic lens, influenced by Walter Scott, whose works Herdman illustrated for engraving purposes, commissioned by the Royal Association for the Promotion of the Fine Arts in Scotland. His paintings are not historically accurate or intellectual, but tend towards the dreamy and emotional, with a painterly interest in colour.