Andrew Geddes (5 April 17835 May 1844) was a Scottish portrait painter and etcher. Life Geddes was born in Edinburgh. After receiving a classical education at the Royal High School and subsequently at the University of Edinburgh, he was employed as a clerk for five years in the excise office, in which his father held the post of deputy auditor. After the death of his father, who had opposed his desire to become an artist, he went to London and entered the Royal Academy schools. His first contribution to the exhibitions of the Royal Academy, a St John in the Wilderness, appeared at Somerset House in 1806, and from that year onwards Geddes was a fairly constant exhibitor of figure-subjects and portraits. His well-known portrait of David Wilkie, with whom he was on terms of intimacy, was at the Royal Academy in 1816. He alternated for some years between London and Edinburgh, with some excursions on the Continent, but in 1831 settled in London, and was elected associate of the Royal Academy in 1832. He died in London of tuberculosis in 1844. Work Geddes made his chief success as a portrait painter, but he produced occasional figure subjects and landscapes, and executed some copies of the old masters as well. He was also a good etcher. His portrait of his mother, and a portrait study, called Summer, are in the National Gallery of Scotland, and his portrait of Sir Walter Scott is in the Scottish National Portrait Gallery. His portrait of Alexander Oswald of Changue FRSE is held at the Glasgow Museum Resource Centre. References Further reading Geddes, Adela Plimer. Memoir of the Late Andrew Geddes, Esq., A.R.A. (London: W. Clowe, 1844). Smailes, Helen. Andrew Geddes, 1783–1844: Painter-printmaker: a man of pure taste (National Galleries of Scotland, 2001). External links Andrew Geddes online (ArtCyclopedia) Andrew Geddes (The Walter Scott Digital Archive) Profile on Royal Academy of Arts Collections 1783 births 1844 deaths 19th-century deaths from tuberculosis Tuberculosis deaths in England Artists from Edinburgh People educated at the Royal High School, Edinburgh Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Scottish civil servants Scottish portrait painters Scottish etchers 19th-century Scottish painters Scottish male painters Burials at Kensal Green Cemetery Associates of the Royal Academy Alumni of the Royal Academy Schools 19th-century Scottish male artists