Collections

William McTaggart was born in Kintyre to a poor agricultural labourer and his wife. After leaving school he was apprenticed to an apothecary who quickly noticed his talent for draughtsmanship and provided him with an introduction to Daniel MacNee. In 1852 he entered the Trustees Academy in the same year that Robert Scott Lauder became master there, and won a number of prizes for drawing from the antique and from the life. He initially produced portraits and copies due to financial expediency. He married his first wife in 1863 and his first daughter Annie was to later marry the artist and critic Sir James Caw. He proceeded to paint figure paintings in the 1860's and 1870's that showed some references to Pre Raphaelite art. His Diploma Work "Dora" belongs to this period. In 1886 he married again after the daeth of his first wife. from the 1880's onwards his painting style changed and became looser and more expressive, the subject matter also came to focus increasingly upon the sea and fishing boats. McTaggart exhibited prolifically at the RSA from 1855 until 1904. He became an Associate Member of the RSA in 1859 and an Academician in 1870.