Arthur Melville stands as one of the most innovative and exciting figures in late nineteenth-century British art. A Scottish painter renowned primarily for his mastery of watercolour, Melville (1855-1904) forged a unique path, characterized by bold experimentation, extensive travel, and a profound sensitivity to light and colour. His work bridges the gap between Victorian sensibilities and the burgeoning movements of modernism, leaving a legacy that continues to resonate. Associated with the Glasgow School, yet fiercely individual, Melville's life and art were an adventure in perception and technique.
Early Life and Artistic Awakening
Born in Loanhead-of-Guthrie, Angus, but raised primarily in East Lothian near Haddington, Arthur Melville's origins were modest. His father was a coachman. Early life presented practical challenges, and the young Melville initially found himself apprenticed to a grocer. However, the artistic impulse was strong. He pursued his passion through evening classes, likely at the Board of Manufacturers school in Edinburgh, demonstrating a determination that would define his career.
His dedication began to bear fruit when, in 1875, he had his first painting accepted and, crucially, sold at the prestigious Royal Scottish Academy exhibition in Edinburgh. This success was a turning point, providing the validation needed to persuade his family to support his ambition of becoming a full-time professional artist. Free from the constraints of his apprenticeship, Melville could now dedicate himself entirely to the pursuit of art.
Parisian Studies and the Grez Connection
Seeking broader horizons and more advanced training, Melville made the pivotal decision to move to Paris in 1878. This move immersed him in the vibrant, rapidly evolving art world of the French capital. He enrolled at the renowned Académie Julian, a popular destination for international students, where the teaching, though traditional in its foundation, exposed students to contemporary trends and rigorous life drawing.
Beyond the formal studio environment, Melville spent significant time in Grez-sur-Loing, a village near the Forest of Fontainebleau that had become an international artists' colony. Here, he worked alongside artists from Britain, Ireland, America, and Scandinavia. Figures like the Irish painter Frank O'Meara and the critic R.A.M. Stevenson (cousin of Robert Louis Stevenson) were part of this milieu. The emphasis was on plein-air painting, capturing the nuances of natural light and rural life, influenced by the legacy of the Barbizon School and the contemporary naturalism of artists like Jules Bastien-Lepage.
During this formative period in France, Melville produced works that showed his developing style. A Cabbage Garden, likely painted around 1877-78 before or during his early time abroad, was exhibited at the Royal Academy in London in 1878. This painting, with its relatively high viewpoint and focus on pattern and light, already hinted at his unconventional approach to composition and his burgeoning interest in the decorative potential of everyday scenes. His time in France solidified his technical skills and exposed him to Impressionist ideas about light and colour, though he would ultimately forge his own distinct path.
The Grand Tour: Adventures in the East
Perhaps the most transformative experience for Melville's art was his extensive journey through the Middle East and Asia between 1880 and 1883. This was not a typical Grand Tour focused on classical antiquity, but an immersion in the contemporary life, light, and colour of Egypt, Persia (modern-day Iran and Iraq), and India. He set off in the autumn of 1880, initially spending around six weeks in Egypt.
In Cairo, Melville was captivated by the intensity of the light, the bustling street life, and the exotic textures and colours. He sketched prolifically, capturing scenes in the narrow alleyways, vibrant bazaars filled with fruit sellers and carpet merchants, and the quiet intensity of local coffee houses. He also painted the iconic pyramids at Giza, seeking to convey their monumental presence under the African sun. There was an intention, though ultimately unrealized, to publish some of this work in the illustrated journal The Graphic.
From Egypt, his journey became even more adventurous. In 1882, he travelled via the Suez Canal to Aden, then sailed to Karachi (then part of British India). From there, he journeyed through the Persian Gulf to Basra and Baghdad, where he spent a couple of weeks absorbing the atmosphere of this ancient city. His return journey was an arduous overland trek across the desert and through the Balkans, finally arriving back in Britain in 1883. This extended exposure to non-European cultures and landscapes had a profound and lasting impact on his artistic vision.
Revolutionising Watercolour
While Melville also worked in oils, it is his watercolour painting that truly cemented his reputation as a major innovator. His travels provided the ideal subject matter for his developing technique, which sought to capture the dazzling effects of light and atmosphere he encountered. He moved away from the meticulous, detailed application typical of traditional British watercolour towards a much bolder, more fluid, and expressive approach.
Melville developed a highly individual method. He often worked on paper that had been prepared with a wash of diluted Chinese white, creating a luminous, slightly absorbent ground. Onto this surface, often while it was still damp, he would apply rich, saturated colours, allowing them to bleed and merge in controlled yet spontaneous ways. He utilized blotting techniques, lifting colour or manipulating its spread, to create texture and suggest form through patches of pure colour rather than precise lines.
This wet-on-wet technique, combined with his audacious colour sense, allowed Melville to achieve unprecedented brilliance and vibrancy. He could convey the shimmering heat haze of a desert city, the cool shadows of an arched doorway, or the kaleidoscopic reflections in water with remarkable immediacy. His technique was sometimes referred to as creating "blots" of colour, a term that perhaps undersells the sophisticated control he exerted over the medium. It was a radical departure that pushed the boundaries of watercolour painting.
The Glasgow School Connection
Upon his return to Britain, Melville became closely associated with the Glasgow School, often known as the 'Glasgow Boys'. This loose collective of young Scottish painters reacted against the conservative traditions of the Edinburgh establishment (represented by the Royal Scottish Academy). They championed greater realism, bolder techniques, decorative effects, and influences from French plein-air painting and artists like James McNeill Whistler.
Melville, with his Parisian training and exotic travels, was a figure of considerable interest and influence within the group, even if he wasn't always geographically based in Glasgow. He shared close friendships with key members like James Guthrie, E.A. Walton, and George Henry. His technical bravura and modern outlook resonated with their aims. Guthrie, in particular, acknowledged Melville's significant role as an inspiring force and leader within their circle.
However, the exact nature of Melville's contribution has sometimes been debated, perhaps because his extensive travels set him apart. Some accounts by fellow Glasgow Boys occasionally downplayed his centrality. Nonetheless, his sophisticated colour sense, bold compositions, and international experience undoubtedly enriched the movement. He exhibited alongside the Glasgow Boys and shared their desire to create a distinctly modern Scottish art. Other prominent figures in the group included John Lavery and E.A. Hornel, who also explored bold colour and decorative compositions.
Orientalist Visions and Spanish Light
Melville's travels provided him with a rich seam of subject matter that he would revisit throughout his career. His depictions of North Africa and the Middle East place him within the broader context of 19th-century Orientalism. However, his approach differed significantly from the highly detailed, often anecdotal or ethnographic, works of academic Orientalists like Jean-Léon Gérôme or Frederick Arthur Bridgman.
Melville was less concerned with narrative or precise anthropological detail and more focused on capturing the sensory experience – the intense light, the vibrant colour, the movement of crowds, the atmospheric effects. Works like Waiting for an Audience with the Pasha (1887) exemplify this, focusing on the play of light and shadow in an interior space and the rich textures of fabrics and tiles, rather than a specific story. His Orientalist paintings are powerful evocations of place, rendered with dazzling technical skill.
Later in his career, Melville also made several trips to Spain, often accompanied by the younger artist Frank Brangwyn. Spain offered new motifs and different qualities of light. He was particularly drawn to the drama and spectacle of the bullfight, producing dynamic watercolours like A Little Bullfight—Bravo, Toro! that capture the energy and colour of the event. He also painted scenes in Spanish towns and landscapes, applying his signature style to these new subjects. Venice also became a favourite location, its unique interplay of water, light, and architecture providing ample inspiration for his fluid watercolour technique.
Friendships, Influence, and Wider Connections
Melville's influence extended beyond the core Glasgow group. His relationship with Frank Brangwyn was significant. They travelled together in Spain in 1891, and Melville's bold watercolour technique and use of colour undoubtedly left a mark on Brangwyn, who was himself developing a powerful, decorative style. Melville's encouragement was also important for younger Scottish artists. He famously advised John Duncan Fergusson, who would become one of the key Scottish Colourists, to leave Scotland and immerse himself in the art scene of Paris, recommending study at the Académie Julian.
While direct connections might be harder to trace, Melville's work shares certain affinities with contemporaries like James McNeill Whistler, particularly in its emphasis on atmosphere, tonal harmony, and decorative arrangement, although Melville's palette was generally much brighter and bolder. His innovative approach to watercolour also finds echoes in the work of fellow Glasgow Boy Joseph Crawhall II, who was renowned for his brilliant watercolours of animals, often executed with great economy and fluidity on linen. Melville's art was part of a broader international current exploring new possibilities in colour and form at the turn of the century.
Mature Style and Artistic Language
In his mature works, Melville achieved a remarkable synthesis of observation and abstraction. While his subjects were drawn from life – bustling markets, architectural vistas, ceremonial events – his treatment of them often pushed towards bold simplification and expressive colour. Passages in his watercolours can appear almost abstract, composed of dynamic patches of pure, luminous colour that suggest form and atmosphere rather than delineating them precisely.
His compositions remained dramatic and often unconventional, using strong diagonals, cropped figures, and interesting viewpoints to create visual excitement. He had an exceptional ability to convey movement and energy, whether in the swirling crowds of an Arab market or the frantic action of a bullfight. Above all, his mastery of light remained central. He captured the blinding glare of the midday sun, the cool transparency of shadows, and the subtle nuances of reflected light with unparalleled skill in the watercolour medium.
Final Years, Legacy, and Historical Evaluation
Melville continued to paint and exhibit actively into the early 20th century, his reputation as a leading watercolourist firmly established. Tragically, his life and career were cut short. While preparing for a trip to Spain with his wife, he contracted typhoid fever and died in Witley, Surrey, in August 1904, at the age of 49.
His premature death was a significant loss to the British art world. Memorial exhibitions were held shortly after, including one at the Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours in London in 1906, affirming his status. Although perhaps not achieving widespread public fame during his lifetime to the extent of some contemporaries, his artistic achievement was recognized by fellow artists and discerning critics.
Today, Arthur Melville is regarded as a pivotal figure in Scottish art history and a watercolourist of international stature. His works are held in major public collections, including the National Galleries of Scotland, Tate Britain, the Victoria and Albert Museum, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. In 2015, the National Galleries of Scotland mounted a major retrospective exhibition titled "Arthur Melville: Adventures in Colour," which brought renewed attention to his innovative techniques and stunning visual results. His legacy is also preserved through efforts like the restoration of his grave at Brookwood Cemetery, undertaken by the Brookwood Cemetery Society with support from family and collectors.
Scholars recognize Melville as a pioneer of colourism in Britain. His technical innovations revolutionized watercolour painting, demonstrating its potential for expressive power and chromatic brilliance. His bold compositions and near-abstract handling of colour anticipated aspects of modernism, influencing not only his contemporaries but also subsequent generations, including the Scottish Colourists like J.D. Fergusson, S.J. Peploe, and F.C.B. Cadell, who further explored the expressive potential of pure colour.
Conclusion
Arthur Melville was more than just a skilled painter; he was an adventurer in art. From his determined beginnings in Scotland to his transformative travels across the East and his technical innovations in the watercolour medium, his career was marked by a restless energy and a unique vision. He captured the world around him, particularly the dazzling light and colour of foreign lands, with a vibrancy and immediacy that remain captivating. As a key figure associated with the Glasgow School, a master of Orientalist themes interpreted through a modern lens, and a revolutionary watercolourist, Arthur Melville secured his place as one of the most original and influential British artists of his generation. His adventures in colour continue to inspire.
