oil on canvas, signed and dated 1906
framed

image size 80cm x 60cm, overall size 105cm x 85cm

Note: William Robertson Smith Stott, born in Aberdeen, Scotland, on 5 August 1878, the youngest of nine children of joiner/carpenter Alexander Stott and his wife Margaret (nee Petrie). Stott was raised in Aberdeen but subsequently moved to London. He was active as a portrait artist from around 1905 and, by the early 1920s, was living at 14 Cheyne Row, Chelsea, London, a very affluent area of the city and an indication of his commercial success. Whilst he continued to accept commissions as a painter, his skills as a book illustrator brought him a constant and substantial income. Numerous romantic historical adventures, including an edition of Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson (Cassell, 1913) published with 8 colour plates by Stott. Other books illustrated by Stott include Pioneers of Australia (c.1910), The Romance of Canada (c.1910) and The Romance of India (c.1913), all edited by Herbert Strang, Two Dover Boys; or, Captured by Corsairs by Gertrude Hollis (1911), Hawkwood the Brave by William Beck (1911), The Ferry House Girls by Bessie Marchant (1912), The Air Scout by Herbert Strang (1912), The Adventurous Seven by Bessie Marchant (1914), Brave Deeds of the War by Donald A. Mackenzie (with others, 1916) and The History of Tom Jones by Henry Fielding (1934). A few of his original book illustrations have appeared at auction around Europe over recent years including at Bristol Auctions 25th March 2010 lot 208 ''South of Braemar'' selling for £2200 but so far as we can see from auction records, this is the first of his major paintings to be offered at auction. Stott died at a Belgravia Nursing Home on 19 December 1939, aged 61, a far cry from his humble roots.

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