Elected ARSA: 12 November 1879
Robert Anderson was born in Edinburgh and trained as an engraver. He developed a considerable talent in watercolour painting, bringing him great reputation, and he gave up engraving in 1897. He painted marine subjects, such as Scottish fisher life and characters, as well as landscapes depicted the farm and harvest fields.
Anderson was prolific as both a painter and engraver. He exhibited at the Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours from 1880 to 1884, the Royal Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts between 1877 and 1879, and became an associate of the Royal Scottish Academy in 1879. He exhibited 45 works at the Royal Scottish Academy, and 18 at the Royal Scottish Society of Painters in Water Colours, of which he was a founding member in 1878. In 1879, Anderson was elected an associate of the Royal Scottish Academy and, from that date, included that honour as part of his signature.
He lived a relatively short life, passing away in 1885 at age 43.
