A new Capital Collections exhibition brings together watercolour paintings from the Edinburgh and Scottish Collection by the amateur artist, James Steuart.
Steuart’s paintings dated between c1885 and 1936, range from street scenes to landscape views overlooking the city. The landscapes give a window into a more pastoral pace of life on the outskirts. Many are from the 1920s giving us a fantastic perspective on Edinburgh around a century ago.
However, it took us a little while to find out more about the artist, James Steuart, and consequently, if we’d be able to make his wonderful paintings available to view online.
We tried searching Ancestry and other genealogical databases to see if we could find official records for him. Although, the less typical spelling of his last name should have helped, we had no further information to corroborate any records we found. As we had suspected, it was later confirmed that Steuart was an amateur artist, and so, there was no corresponding artistic occupation to find in the records.
In the Art and Design Library, we found him listed in the Dictionary of Scottish Art and Architecture by Peter J. M. McEwan, but with only active dates, rather than life dates – i.e. Steuart, James fl. 1877 to 1900. From this entry we learnt that he’d exhibited at the Royal Scottish Academy and also the Royal Society of Painters in Water Colours and was listed with an Edinburgh address. Most helpfully, it named him as the author of two books, ‘Sketching in Watercolours’ and ‘Sketching Ways and Sketching Days’.
A breakthrough came with a visit to the National Library of Scotland to consult both of James Steuart’s books. We’d hoped for perhaps a short biography of the artist contained within the introduction or inside the book cover.
‘Sketching in Water-Colours, A book for amateurs by an amateur’ didn’t give us much to go on. On page 11, we’re told that the author had “sketched since he was a boy with little professional teaching” but there was little further autobiographical detail.
However, ‘Sketching Ways and Sketching Days’ was scattered with personal details, some which provided the evidence we were looking for and others which provided a picture of the man we hadn’t expected to discover. Steuart described his occupation:
“Professionally I am a W. S. – that is not a Water-Colour Society, but a Writer to the Signet (or in other words, a Solicitor, with a Scottish accent) – my forebears having followed the legal profession since about 1650.”
Finally, we were learning more about our mystery artist, and from the man himself! He detailed some of his other interests and achievements:
“have laboured in a garden since my early days; have made unholy noises on a double-bass fiddle; have written antiquarian and other articles; have used my hands in carpentry; have collected and retailed a vast number of Scottish stories; have studied French; have passed the War years (being past the age for active service) as the head of a considerable force of the Special Constabulary, as well as carrying on my ordinary business with a depleted staff”.
His writing in the book also references a wife and daughter. These extra clues allowed us to go back to the official records and confirm census listings for the family and also a marriage certificate for James and his wife, Agatha.
Finding articles in the British Newspaper Archive, we learnt that James Steuart died in 1938 in London and a memorial service was held at St Paul’s and St George’s Church at York Place in Edinburgh. James, Agatha and their daughter, Sylvia are all commemorated on the family gravestone in Greyfriars Kirkyard.
So although, following the family business, “naturally absorbed the most of my busy life” he enjoyed escaping to Edinburgh’s best vantage points to spend time capturing the scene with his watercolours –
“when one had spent the week at the desk, one was wont, when opportunity occurred to escape to the surrounding district [of Edinburgh] – and what a wealth of pictures that district affords”.
Explore these wonderful watercolours of Edinburgh in the Capital Collections exhibition, James Steuart’s sketching days.
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Tales of one city 
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