Robert Gavin

Robert Gavin R.S.A. (1827 – 1883) was a Scottish painter.

He trained under Thomas Duncan at the School of Design in Edinburgh and went on to paint a large number of rustic and family subjects, mainly landscapes with figures of children. Paintings such as the ‘Reaping Girl’ and ‘Phoebe Mayflower’ became so popular that they were reproduced in chromo-lithography.

In 1854 he was elected as an associate of the Royal Scottish Academy, but appeared to become dissatisfied with his artistic progress, so in 1857 he went into business with a wine merchant. That didn’t last long and within a year he was back painting.

As well as being a regular contributor to the Royal Scottish Academy exhibitions, he also displayed work between 1855 and 1871 at the London Royal Academy.

He made a tour of America in 1868 painting scenes from ‘negro’ life and he then went on to Tangier in Morocco where he focused on painting ‘Moorish’ pictures. For his diploma work to become an academician in 1879, he painted the work ‘The Moorish Maiden’s First Love’ which showed a young woman stroking a white horse and this is now in the National Gallery of Scotland.
He returned home to Scotland in 1880 and continued to paint pictures based on Moorish subjects until he died in 1883.