Samuel Bough

1822 - 1878

Influential watercolourist. Born in Carlisle (England), Bough was apprenticed to a London engraver, but gave this up to return home. There he was able to sketch in the Lake District but left for Manchester in 1845, where he gained employment as a theatrical scene-painter and was also able to exhibit his watercolours, which gained him a prize in 1847. He moved to Glasgow, where he married an opera singer, and finally settled in Edinburgh in 1855, by which time he was an established landscape artist. He also spent time in the fishing villages of Fife painting coastal scenes. Regarded as one of the most influential watercolourists of his time, noted for painting in the open-air, he also worked in oils. Bough helped establish the Royal Scottish Society for Painters in Watercolour, becoming its first Vice-President. He was elected an Associate of the Royal Scottish Academy in 1856 and a Member in 1872. His Shipyard at Dumbarton is held by the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, while his View of Ullswater is part of the British Government Art Collection and his painting of Holmwood, Dorking dating from 1856 was presented to the Tate Gallery by the Earl of Carlisle in 1904. His extensive works in Scotland include Newark Castle, Port Glasgow (1854), Melrose Abbey (1861), Broomielaw (1864), Storm at St Monan's, Fife (1867), The Carse of Gowrie (1868) and a Distant View of Kirkwall, Orkney (1869). His Snowballing Outside Edinburgh University is held by the National Gallery of Scotland.

Bough died in Edinburgh and lies buried in Dean Cemetery.

Use the tabs on the right of this page to see other parts of this entry