John Campbell Mitchell - Artist

John Campbell Mitchell was born in Campbeltown, Argyll in 1862. He was primarily a painter in oils but occasionally watercolours, with a style dominated by vast open landscapes and marine scenes. He started life in a lawyer's office but at the age of 20 abandoned his legal ambition and entered Edinburgh College of Art where he worked in the Royal Scottish Academy life class and later in Paris under Benjamin Constant. On his return to Scotland in 1890 he settled in Edinburgh where he remained for the rest of his life. Campbell was on the staff of the Edinburgh College of Art at its foundation in 1907. He painted large expanses of moorland and rolling countryside as well as wide expanses of beach and ocean. He had a strong feeling for sunlight and fluctuating shadow as is wonderfully exemplified in this work. He very much enjoyed employing his technique in portraying changeable skies. In about 1904 he moved to Corstorphine, this change reflecting in his artwork: from the breezy to a more pensive sentiment. He exhibited at The Royal Academy but is most closely associated with The Royal Scottish Academy of which he was made a full member in 1918.