Robert Gemmell Hutchison was born and educated in Edinburgh and worked firstly as a seal engraver before studying art at the Board of Manufacturer’s School.

He worked in both oils and watercolours, frequently used board and had a vigorous style, painting children, sailors, workmen, homely domestic scenes and landscapes. The influence of such Dutch artists as Joseph Israels (1824-1911) and Bernardus-Johannes Blommers (1845-1914) can clearly be seen; like them, his work was anti-sentimental, literal and realist.

Hutchison took a very active part in exhibitions, showing his work regularly at the Royal Scottish Academy, the Royal Academy, the Royal Institute of Fine Art at Glasgow, the Royal Institute of Oil Painters and the Royal Scottish Society of Painters. He made his debut at the R.S.A. in 1879 and the R.A. in 1881 and was made a member of the R.S.W. in 1895, the R.S.A. in 1911 and the R.O.I.

His work can be found in a museum in Liverpool.


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Bibliography: E. Bénézit “Dictionnaire des Peintres”
Grant M. Waters “Dictionary of British Artists Working 1900-1950”