Sir David Young Cameron was born in Glasgow in 1865 and began his training at the Glasgow School of Art in 1881. Although his first success came through etchings in the early 1890s, Cameron also worked extensively in oil and watercolour.
He and his wife Jeanie Ure Maclaurin lived in the Scottish Highlands, where he drew much of his inspiration from the surrounding landscape. Unlike the Glasgow Boys, Cameron was less interested in the decorative aspect of painting, focusing instead on the changing quality of light and the atmospheric character of the Highland environment. His belief that colour, tone and light were more important than the ‘story’ a painting conveyed often placed his work outside the mainstream of the Glasgow School.
Cameron was a prolific artist whose success was recognised throughout his lifetime. He was elected both a Royal Scottish Academician and a Royal Academician and was knighted in 1922.
