Fine Art

The Watson Gordon Chair of Fine Art was founded in 1880, inaugurating the study of the discipline at Edinburgh University.

The chair was founded by Henry George Watson and Frances Watson in memory of their brother, the late Sir John Watson Gordon (1788-1864), a renowned portrait-painter and President of the Royal Academy of Scotland. The chair was endowed with a sum of about £12,000, with instructions to the Professor to lecture 'on the History and Theory of the Fine Arts, including Painting, Sculpture, and Architecture, and other branches of Art therewith connected'. From a wider perspective, the Chair's focus was 'the promotion and advancement of the fine arts, and prosecution of the studies of painting, sculpture and Architecture, and other branches therewith connected, in Scotland'. Fine art as a subject for academic study was in its infancy, and Baldwin Brown espoused the cause, just as he supported the cause of university education for women; he lectured extensively to the Edinburgh Association for the University Education of Women.

He bequeathed ca 1,000 books, mainly published in the C19 and early C20, from his own library on fine art and archaeology. They were divided among the General Library and the class libraries for Fine Art and Archaeology.

Holders of the Watson Gordon Chair of Fine Art

• 1880-1930: Gerard Baldwin Brown (1849-1932)
• 1931-1933: Sir Herbert Read (1893-1968)
• 1996- : Richard Thomson