Watson Gordon, although he neither knew the painter personally nor had ever before visited the country. Among the portraits painted during this period, in what may be termed his third style, are De Quincey; General Sir Thomas Macdougall Brisbane; the Prince of Wales, Lord Macaulay, Sir M. Packington, Lord Murray, Lord Cockburn, Lord Rutherfurd and Sir John Shaw-Lefevre. These latter pictures are mostly clear and grey, sometimes showing little or no positive colour, the flesh itself being very grey, and the handling extremely masterly, though never obtruding its cleverness. He was very successful in rendering acute observant character. A good example of his last style, showing pearly flesh-painting freely handled, yet highly finished, is his head of Sir John Shaw-Lefevre. Gordon was one of the earlier members of the Royal Scottish Academy, and was elected its president in 1850; he was at the same time appointed limner for Scotland to the queen, and received the honour of knighthood. Since 1841 he had been an associate of the Royal Academy, and in 1851 he was elected a royal academician. He is buried in the eastern extension of Canongate Kirkyard on the Royal Mile in Edinburgh. Notes References Further reading Watson Gordon, John in: Thieme-Becker External links Sir John Watson-Gordon (The Walter Scott Digital Archive) Works in the National Galleries of Scotland John Watson Gordononline (Artcyclopedia) The Prince of Wales (King Edward VII) by Sir John Watson Gordon / Smithsonian American Art Museum Profile on Royal Academy of Arts Collections 1788 births 1864 deaths 19th-century Scottish painters Scottish male painters Scottish portrait painters Burials at the Canongate Kirkyard Royal Scottish Academicians Artists from Edinburgh Alumni of the Edinburgh College of Art Royal Academicians 19th-century Scottish male artists