Robert Scott Lauder, 1869

A carte-de-visite showing the grave of the Scottish artist Robert Scott Lauder (1803-1869). Located in Warrington Cemetery, Edinburgh, the sandstone headstone contains an inset portrait of the artist in white Sicilian marble by the Scottish sculptor John Hutchison.

Born at Silvermills, a district of Edinburgh, on 25 June 1803, Lauder’s father was the proprietor of a local tannery. He attended the Royal High School in Edinburgh. Following four or five yeas studying the Italian masters in Rome he returned home and began his career as an artist. In 1830 he was elected one of the original members of the Royal Scottish Academy. Known as a ‘historical painter,’ he frequently took inspiration from scripture stories and from the novels of Sir Walter Scott.

A stroke in 1860 left him paralysed, thus ending his career. He died, still paralysed, in Edinburgh on 21 April 1869.

Photographer unidentified [reverse is blank].