Sholto Johnstone Douglas
Encyclopedia
Robert Sholto Johnstone Douglas (3 December 1871 – 10 March 1958), known as Sholto Douglas, or more formally as Sholto Johnstone Douglas, was a Scottish
figurative art
ist, a painter chiefly of portrait
s and landscape
s.
In 1895, he stood surety
for the bail
of Oscar Wilde
.
, a member of the Queensberry family
, part of the Clan Douglas
. He was the son of A. H. Johnstone Douglas DL
JP
of Lockerbie
(1846–1923) and his wife Jane Maitland Stewart, and the grandson of Robert Johnstone Douglas of Lockerbie, himself the son of Henry Alexander Douglas, a brother of the sixth
and seventh
Marquesses of Queensberry. His paternal grandmother, Lady Jane Douglas (1811–1881), was herself a daughter of Charles Douglas, 6th Marquess of Queensberry
, so she was her husband's first cousin. Douglas's third cousin and contemporary John Douglas, 9th Marquess of Queensberry
(1844–1900) was famous for the rules of the sport of boxing
. Another cousin was Lady Florence Dixie
, the war correspondent
and big game hunter.
Douglas studied art in London
, at the Slade School of Fine Art
and also in Paris
and Antwerp.
Douglas's cousin Lord Alfred Douglas
, or 'Bosie', was a close friend of the writer Oscar Wilde
. When Wilde sued Bosie's father for libel when accused of "posing as a somdomite" (sic), this led to Wilde's downfall and imprisonment. In 1895, when during his trial Wilde was released on bail
, Sholto Johnstone Douglas stood surety
for £
500 of the bail money.
In his Noel Coward: A Biography (1996), Philip Hoare writes of "...late nineteenth-century enthusiasts of boy-love; writers, artists and Catholic converts inclined to intellectual paedophilia, among them Wilde, Frederick Rolfe
, Sholto Douglas and Lord Alfred Douglas."
and "...led a long life notable for its unassuming expression of civilized values".
He was at home in Scotland as a painter and as a sportsman, shooting
, riding
and sailing
. He kept ponies
brought back from a visit to Iceland
. He came to attention at the Royal Academy
by being the first artist to hang a painting there of a motor car
, but was best known for his portrait
s and his Scottish landscape
s, which "...portrayed, with a truly poetic sense of atmosphere, the subtle half-tones of his native countryside".
In 1897, Douglas visited Australia
and New Zealand
. His uncle John Douglas
, a former Premier of Queensland
and Governor of New Guinea
, arranged for the author R. W. Semon to take Douglas with him on a visit to New Guinea. Semon wrote "This young Scotsman was just then staying with his uncle on Thursday Island, being on his way back to Europe after a voyage to Australia and New Zealand."
In 1900, Douglas painted the author John Buchan
. His portrait of his friend George Howson
, headmaster of Gresham's School
, hangs at the school.
In 1904, London's Temple Bar magazine reported
In June 1907, Douglas held an exhibition of his portraits at the Alpine Club
in London
. The International Studio noted that
In Scottish Painting, Past and Present, 1620-1908 (1908), James Lewis Caw wrote of Douglas's portrait work:
However, Caw says elsewhere in the same book
In 1909, The International Studio said of a painting
On 9 November 1912, under the headline 'Sholto J. Douglas Coming Here', the New York Times reported Douglas's sailing from London for the United States
, having "a number of commissions to paint portraits in New York
".
His work also includes many paintings of "dazzle ships
" during the First World War
, and the Imperial War Museum
has fifty-two of these paintings.
In December 1921, the novelist Arnold Bennett
noted in his journal that on Boxing Day
he had lunched with Douglas and his wife at the Hotel Bristol
in Cannes
to meet the Polish singer Jean de Reszke
.
From 1926 to 1939, Douglas lived in France and painted many landscapes in Provence
.
Elsie Bonita Adams has compared Douglas to the character of Eugene Marchbanks in George Bernard Shaw
's play Candida
(1898):
In March 2005, a portrait by Douglas of the Scottish laird
Ian Brodie, 24th Brodie of Brodie, was accepted by the British government from Brodie's heir in lieu of tax.
. They had one son and one daughter, Robert Arthur Sholto Johnstone-Douglas (born 4 February 1914) and Elizabeth Gwendolen Teresa Johnstone-Douglas (born 2 June 1916).
Douglas's daughter Elizabeth married, firstly, in 1954, William Craven, 6th Earl of Craven
, and became the mother of Thomas, 7th Earl of Craven (1957–1983), Simon, 8th Earl of Craven (1961–1990), and Lady Ann Mary Elizabeth Craven (born 1959); and the grandmother of Benjamin Craven, 9th Earl of Craven (born 1989).
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
figurative art
Figurative art
Figurative art, sometimes written as figurativism, describes artwork—particularly paintings and sculptures—which are clearly derived from real object sources, and are therefore by definition representational.-Definition:...
ist, a painter chiefly of portrait
Portrait
thumb|250px|right|Portrait of [[Thomas Jefferson]] by [[Rembrandt Peale]], 1805. [[New-York Historical Society]].A portrait is a painting, photograph, sculpture, or other artistic representation of a person, in which the face and its expression is predominant. The intent is to display the likeness,...
s and landscape
Landscape
Landscape comprises the visible features of an area of land, including the physical elements of landforms such as mountains, hills, water bodies such as rivers, lakes, ponds and the sea, living elements of land cover including indigenous vegetation, human elements including different forms of...
s.
In 1895, he stood surety
Surety
A surety or guarantee, in finance, is a promise by one party to assume responsibility for the debt obligation of a borrower if that borrower defaults...
for the bail
Bail
Traditionally, bail is some form of property deposited or pledged to a court to persuade it to release a suspect from jail, on the understanding that the suspect will return for trial or forfeit the bail...
of Oscar Wilde
Oscar Wilde
Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde was an Irish writer and poet. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of London's most popular playwrights in the early 1890s...
.
Early life
Douglas was born in EdinburghEdinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...
, a member of the Queensberry family
Marquess of Queensberry
Marquess of Queensberry is a title in the peerage of Scotland. The title has been held since its creation in 1682 by a member of the Douglas family...
, part of the Clan Douglas
Clan Douglas
Clan Douglas is an ancient Scottish kindred from the Scottish Lowlands taking its name from Douglas, South Lanarkshire, and thence spreading through the Scottish Borderland, Angus, Lothian and beyond. The clan does not currently have a chief, therefore it is considered an armigerous clan.The...
. He was the son of A. H. Johnstone Douglas DL
Deputy Lieutenant
In the United Kingdom, a Deputy Lieutenant is one of several deputies to the Lord Lieutenant of a lieutenancy area; an English ceremonial county, Welsh preserved county, Scottish lieutenancy area, or Northern Irish county borough or county....
JP
Justice of the Peace
A justice of the peace is a puisne judicial officer elected or appointed by means of a commission to keep the peace. Depending on the jurisdiction, they might dispense summary justice or merely deal with local administrative applications in common law jurisdictions...
of Lockerbie
Lockerbie
Lockerbie is a town in the Dumfries and Galloway region of south-western Scotland. It lies approximately from Glasgow, and from the English border. It had a population of 4,009 at the 2001 census...
(1846–1923) and his wife Jane Maitland Stewart, and the grandson of Robert Johnstone Douglas of Lockerbie, himself the son of Henry Alexander Douglas, a brother of the sixth
Charles Douglas, 6th Marquess of Queensberry
Charles Douglas, 6th Marquess of Queensberry, KT was a Scottish peer.Douglas was the first son and heir of Sir William Douglas, Bt, and his wife, Grace, née Johnstone. He inherited his father's baronetcy in 1783...
and seventh
John Douglas, 7th Marquess of Queensberry
John Douglas, 7th Marquess of Queensberry , styled Lord John Douglas from May to December 1837, was a Scottish Whig politician....
Marquesses of Queensberry. His paternal grandmother, Lady Jane Douglas (1811–1881), was herself a daughter of Charles Douglas, 6th Marquess of Queensberry
Charles Douglas, 6th Marquess of Queensberry
Charles Douglas, 6th Marquess of Queensberry, KT was a Scottish peer.Douglas was the first son and heir of Sir William Douglas, Bt, and his wife, Grace, née Johnstone. He inherited his father's baronetcy in 1783...
, so she was her husband's first cousin. Douglas's third cousin and contemporary John Douglas, 9th Marquess of Queensberry
John Douglas, 9th Marquess of Queensberry
John Sholto Douglas, 9th Marquess of Queensberry GCVO was a Scottish nobleman, remembered for lending his name and patronage to the "Marquess of Queensberry rules" that formed the basis of modern boxing, for his outspoken atheism, and for his role in the downfall of author and playwright Oscar...
(1844–1900) was famous for the rules of the sport of boxing
Boxing
Boxing, also called pugilism, is a combat sport in which two people fight each other using their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee over a series of between one to three minute intervals called rounds...
. Another cousin was Lady Florence Dixie
Lady Florence Dixie
Lady Florence Caroline Dixie , before her marriage Lady Florence Douglas, was a British traveller, war correspondent, writer and feminist.-Early life:...
, the war correspondent
War correspondent
A war correspondent is a journalist who covers stories firsthand from a war zone. In the 19th century they were also called Special Correspondents.-Methods:...
and big game hunter.
Douglas studied art in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, at the Slade School of Fine Art
Slade School of Fine Art
The Slade School of Fine Art is a world-renownedart school in London, United Kingdom, and a department of University College London...
and also in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
and Antwerp.
Douglas's cousin Lord Alfred Douglas
Lord Alfred Douglas
Lord Alfred Bruce Douglas , nicknamed Bosie, was a British author, poet and translator, better known as the intimate friend and lover of the writer Oscar Wilde...
, or 'Bosie', was a close friend of the writer Oscar Wilde
Oscar Wilde
Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde was an Irish writer and poet. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of London's most popular playwrights in the early 1890s...
. When Wilde sued Bosie's father for libel when accused of "posing as a somdomite" (sic), this led to Wilde's downfall and imprisonment. In 1895, when during his trial Wilde was released on bail
Bail
Traditionally, bail is some form of property deposited or pledged to a court to persuade it to release a suspect from jail, on the understanding that the suspect will return for trial or forfeit the bail...
, Sholto Johnstone Douglas stood surety
Surety
A surety or guarantee, in finance, is a promise by one party to assume responsibility for the debt obligation of a borrower if that borrower defaults...
for £
Pound sterling
The pound sterling , commonly called the pound, is the official currency of the United Kingdom, its Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, British Antarctic Territory and Tristan da Cunha. It is subdivided into 100 pence...
500 of the bail money.
In his Noel Coward: A Biography (1996), Philip Hoare writes of "...late nineteenth-century enthusiasts of boy-love; writers, artists and Catholic converts inclined to intellectual paedophilia, among them Wilde, Frederick Rolfe
Frederick Rolfe
Frederick William Rolfe, better known as Baron Corvo, and also calling himself 'Frederick William Serafino Austin Lewis Mary Rolfe', , was an English writer, artist, photographer and eccentric...
, Sholto Douglas and Lord Alfred Douglas."
Life and work
As a portrait painter, Douglas belonged to the period of John Singer SargentJohn Singer Sargent
John Singer Sargent was an American artist, considered the "leading portrait painter of his generation" for his evocations of Edwardian era luxury. During his career, he created roughly 900 oil paintings and more than 2,000 watercolors, as well as countless sketches and charcoal drawings...
and "...led a long life notable for its unassuming expression of civilized values".
He was at home in Scotland as a painter and as a sportsman, shooting
Hunting and shooting in the United Kingdom
Hunting and shooting have been practised for many centuries in the United Kingdom and, in some areas, are a major part of British rural culture...
, riding
Equestrianism
Equestrianism more often known as riding, horseback riding or horse riding refers to the skill of riding, driving, or vaulting with horses...
and sailing
Sailing
Sailing is the propulsion of a vehicle and the control of its movement with large foils called sails. By changing the rigging, rudder, and sometimes the keel or centre board, a sailor manages the force of the wind on the sails in order to move the boat relative to its surrounding medium and...
. He kept ponies
Icelandic horse
The Icelandic horse is a breed of horse developed in Iceland. Although the horses are small, at times pony-sized, most registries for the Icelandic refer to it as a horse. Icelandic horses are long-lived and hardy. In their native country they have few diseases; Icelandic law prevents horses from...
brought back from a visit to Iceland
Iceland
Iceland , described as the Republic of Iceland, is a Nordic and European island country in the North Atlantic Ocean, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Iceland also refers to the main island of the country, which contains almost all the population and almost all the land area. The country has a population...
. He came to attention at the Royal Academy
Royal Academy
The Royal Academy of Arts is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly, London. The Royal Academy of Arts has a unique position in being an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects whose purpose is to promote the creation, enjoyment and...
by being the first artist to hang a painting there of a motor car
Automobile
An automobile, autocar, motor car or car is a wheeled motor vehicle used for transporting passengers, which also carries its own engine or motor...
, but was best known for his portrait
Portrait
thumb|250px|right|Portrait of [[Thomas Jefferson]] by [[Rembrandt Peale]], 1805. [[New-York Historical Society]].A portrait is a painting, photograph, sculpture, or other artistic representation of a person, in which the face and its expression is predominant. The intent is to display the likeness,...
s and his Scottish landscape
Landscape
Landscape comprises the visible features of an area of land, including the physical elements of landforms such as mountains, hills, water bodies such as rivers, lakes, ponds and the sea, living elements of land cover including indigenous vegetation, human elements including different forms of...
s, which "...portrayed, with a truly poetic sense of atmosphere, the subtle half-tones of his native countryside".
In 1897, Douglas visited Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
and New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
. His uncle John Douglas
John Douglas (Queensland politician)
John Douglas CMG was an Anglo-Australian politician and Premier of Queensland.Douglas was born in London, the seventh son of Henry Alexander Douglas and his wife Elizabeth Dalzell, daughter of the Earl of Carnwarth...
, a former Premier of Queensland
Premiers of Queensland
Before the 1890s, there was no developed party system in Queensland. Political affiliation labels before that time indicate a general tendency only. Before the end of the first decade of the twentieth century, political parties were more akin to parliamentary factions, and were fluid, informal and...
and Governor of New Guinea
New Guinea
New Guinea is the world's second largest island, after Greenland, covering a land area of 786,000 km2. Located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, it lies geographically to the east of the Malay Archipelago, with which it is sometimes included as part of a greater Indo-Australian Archipelago...
, arranged for the author R. W. Semon to take Douglas with him on a visit to New Guinea. Semon wrote "This young Scotsman was just then staying with his uncle on Thursday Island, being on his way back to Europe after a voyage to Australia and New Zealand."
In 1900, Douglas painted the author John Buchan
John Buchan, 1st Baron Tweedsmuir
John Buchan, 1st Baron Tweedsmuir was a Scottish novelist, historian and Unionist politician who served as Governor General of Canada, the 15th since Canadian Confederation....
. His portrait of his friend George Howson
George Howson
George William Saul Howson MA was an English educationalist and writer, reforming headmaster of Gresham's School from 1900 to 1919.-Early life:...
, headmaster of Gresham's School
Gresham's School
Gresham’s School is an independent coeducational boarding school in Holt in North Norfolk, England, a member of the HMC.The school was founded in 1555 by Sir John Gresham as a free grammar school for forty boys, following King Henry VIII's dissolution of the Augustinian priory at Beeston Regis...
, hangs at the school.
In 1904, London's Temple Bar magazine reported
In June 1907, Douglas held an exhibition of his portraits at the Alpine Club
Alpine Club (UK)
The Alpine Club was founded in London in 1857 and was probably the world's first mountaineering club. It is UK mountaineering's acknowledged 'senior club'.-History:...
in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
. The International Studio noted that
In Scottish Painting, Past and Present, 1620-1908 (1908), James Lewis Caw wrote of Douglas's portrait work:
However, Caw says elsewhere in the same book
In 1909, The International Studio said of a painting
On 9 November 1912, under the headline 'Sholto J. Douglas Coming Here', the New York Times reported Douglas's sailing from London for the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, having "a number of commissions to paint portraits in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
".
His work also includes many paintings of "dazzle ships
Dazzle camouflage
Dazzle camouflage, also known as Razzle Dazzle or Dazzle painting, was a camouflage paint scheme used on ships, extensively during World War I and to a lesser extent in World War II...
" during the First World War
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, and the Imperial War Museum
Imperial War Museum
Imperial War Museum is a British national museum organisation with branches at five locations in England, three of which are in London. The museum was founded during the First World War in 1917 and intended as a record of the war effort and sacrifice of Britain and her Empire...
has fifty-two of these paintings.
In December 1921, the novelist Arnold Bennett
Arnold Bennett
- Early life :Bennett was born in a modest house in Hanley in the Potteries district of Staffordshire. Hanley is one of a conurbation of six towns which joined together at the beginning of the twentieth century as Stoke-on-Trent. Enoch Bennett, his father, qualified as a solicitor in 1876, and the...
noted in his journal that on Boxing Day
Boxing Day
Boxing Day is a bank or public holiday that occurs on 26 December, or the first or second weekday after Christmas Day, depending on national or regional laws. It is observed in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and some other Commonwealth nations. In Ireland, it is recognized as...
he had lunched with Douglas and his wife at the Hotel Bristol
Hotel Bristol
There are more than 200 hotels around the world called Bristol. Italy has the most, with more than 50, France has around 30. They range from the grand European hotels, such as Hôtel Le Bristol Paris and the Bristol in Vienna to budget hotels, such as the SRO Bristol in San Francisco...
in Cannes
Cannes
Cannes is one of the best-known cities of the French Riviera, a busy tourist destination and host of the annual Cannes Film Festival. It is a Commune of France in the Alpes-Maritimes department....
to meet the Polish singer Jean de Reszke
Jean de Reszke
Jean de Reszke, born Jan Mieczyslaw, , was a Polish tenor. Renowned internationally for the high quality of his singing and the elegance of his bearing, he became the biggest male opera star of the late 19th century....
.
From 1926 to 1939, Douglas lived in France and painted many landscapes in Provence
Provence
Provence ; Provençal: Provença in classical norm or Prouvènço in Mistralian norm) is a region of south eastern France on the Mediterranean adjacent to Italy. It is part of the administrative région of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur...
.
Elsie Bonita Adams has compared Douglas to the character of Eugene Marchbanks in George Bernard Shaw
George Bernard Shaw
George Bernard Shaw was an Irish playwright and a co-founder of the London School of Economics. Although his first profitable writing was music and literary criticism, in which capacity he wrote many highly articulate pieces of journalism, his main talent was for drama, and he wrote more than 60...
's play Candida
Candida (play)
Candida, a comedy by playwright George Bernard Shaw, was first published in 1898, as part of his Plays Pleasant. The central characters are clergyman James Morell, his wife Candida and a youthful poet, Eugene Marchbanks, who tries to win Candida's affections. The play questions Victorian notions...
(1898):
In March 2005, a portrait by Douglas of the Scottish laird
Laird
A Laird is a member of the gentry and is a heritable title in Scotland. In the non-peerage table of precedence, a Laird ranks below a Baron and above an Esquire.-Etymology:...
Ian Brodie, 24th Brodie of Brodie, was accepted by the British government from Brodie's heir in lieu of tax.
Marriage and descendants
On 19 April 1913, Douglas married Bettina, the daughter of Harman Grisewood, of DaylesfordDaylesford, Gloucestershire
Daylesford is a small village in Gloucestershire, England, on the border with Oxfordshire. It is situated off the A436 near Stow-on-the-Wold and five miles west of Chipping Norton. The village is on the north bank of the small River Evenlode...
. They had one son and one daughter, Robert Arthur Sholto Johnstone-Douglas (born 4 February 1914) and Elizabeth Gwendolen Teresa Johnstone-Douglas (born 2 June 1916).
Douglas's daughter Elizabeth married, firstly, in 1954, William Craven, 6th Earl of Craven
Earl of Craven
Earl of Craven, in the County of York, is a title that has been created twice, once in the Peerage of England and once in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. The first creation came in the Peerage of England in 1664 in favour of the soldier William Craven, the eldest son of Sir William Craven, Lord...
, and became the mother of Thomas, 7th Earl of Craven (1957–1983), Simon, 8th Earl of Craven (1961–1990), and Lady Ann Mary Elizabeth Craven (born 1959); and the grandmother of Benjamin Craven, 9th Earl of Craven (born 1989).
External links
- Sholto Johnstone DOUGLAS (1871-1958) at artprice.com web site
- Sholto Johnstone Douglas (1871-1958) at artnet.com web site
- Sholto Johnstone Douglas at arcadja.com/auctions web site