Arthur Melville (1858–1904) was a Scottish painter of Orientalist subjects, among others.
He was born in Guthrie, Anngus in 1858 and brought up in East Lothian. He took up painting while working as a grocer's apprentice, and then attended the Royal Scottish AcademySchools before studying in Paris and Greece. The colour sense, which is so notable a feature of his work developed during his travels in Persia, Egypt and Turkey between 1880 and 1882, where he sometimes travelled alone on long inland journeys. To convey strong Middle Eastern light, he developed a technique of using watercolour on a base of wet paper with gouache (bodycolour) applied to it.
Melville, though comparatively little known during his lifetime, was one of the most powerful influences in the contemporary art of his day, especially in his broad decorative treatment with watercolour, which influenced the Glasgow Boys. Though his vivid impressions of colour and movement are apparently recorded with feverish haste, they are the result of careful deliberation and selection. He was at his best in his watercolours of Eastern life and his Venetian scenes, but he also painted several striking portraits in oils and a powerful composition of The Return from the Crucifixion which remained unfinished at his death in 1904. The Victoria and Albert Museum has one of his watercolours, The Little Bull-Fight Bravo, Toro! and others, like An Oriental Goatherd in the Weimar Museum are in many museums, especially in Scotland. Many of his pictures remain with private collectors.
A comprehensive memorial exhibition of Melville's works was held at the Royal Institute Galleries in London in 1906.
For a full biography see part 1. For earlier works by Arthur Melville, see parts 1 & 2 also.
This is part 3 of 3 parts on the works of Arthur Melville:
![]() |
1897 The Seat
watercolour 27.9 x 38.1 cm
Private Collection |
![]() |
1897 The White Piano
oil on canvas 153 x 130 cm
Harris Museum and Art Gallery, Preston, UK |
![]() |
1898 King Cophetua and the Beggar Maid
watercolour |
![]() |
1898 Outside the Bullring
pencil and watercolour heightened with white 60 x 85 cm |
![]() |
1898 The Garnet Sai, Venice, Fishing
pencil, watercolour and bodycolour 85 x 59.5 cm
Private Collection |
![]() |
1899 A Scene in Tunis
oil on panel 25.1 x 35.6 cm
City Art Centre, Edinburgh, UK |
![]() |
1899 The Storm
oil on canvas 85.7 x 92.8 cm
Nottingham Museum and Art Gallery, UK |
![]() |
1900 Cock Fight
watercolour on paper 83.8 x 58.4 cm
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
![]() |
1900 Mrs Graham Robertson
oil on canvas 201 x 165 cm
Watts Galley, Compton, Surrey, UK |
![]() |
c1904 The Music Boat, Venice
watercolour and pastel on board 61 x 86.4 cm
The Burrell Collection, Glasgow, UK |
![]() |
A Harbour in Cairo
watercolour |
Note: Dates not found for the remainder of these works:![]() |
A Harbour in Cairo
watercolour |
![]() |
A Young Boy Reading
pencil and watercolour heightened with bodycolour
35.5 x 27.5 cm
Private Collection |
![]() |
An Islamic Courtyard
watercolour 53 x 39 cm |
![]() |
An Oriental Courtyard
oil on canvas 40.5 x 30.5 cm
Private Collection |
![]() |
Barges on the Seine
watercolour 36.8 x 53.6 cm
Private Collection |
![]() |
Battle Scene, Omdurman (Sudan)
oil on canvas 42 x 53 cm
Private Collection |
![]() |
Bullring Crowd (Spain)
watercolour on paper 65.5 x 99 cm |
![]() |
Eastern Scene
watercolour on paper 51.1 x 36 cm
National Galleries Scotland, UK |
![]() |
Gorge de Passages
watercolour on paper 83 x 58.5 cm
University of Edinburgh Fine Art Collection, UK |
![]() |
Head of a Copt, Sheikh A'Chga
watercolour 51 x 38 cm
Private Collection |
![]() |
In Morocco
watercolour 20 x 22 cm
Private Collection |
![]() |
La Toilette des Mules
oil on canvas 52 x 78.7 cm
Private Collection |
![]() |
Life Study
oil on canvas 50.7 x 76.2 cm |
![]() |
Malta
watercolour and bodycolour on buff paper 35.5 x 50.1 cm
Private Collection |
![]() |
Moroccan Street
watercolour on paper 43.1 x 30.4 cm
Private Collection |
![]() |
Mrs. Naughton of Naughton at Tea
oil on panel 28 x 35.5 cm
Private Collection |
![]() |
On the Euphrates
watercolour |
![]() |
Orange Market, Puerta de los Pasajes
watercolour on paper 50.7 x 75 cm
Fleming Collection, London |
![]() |
Outside the Bullring
pencil and watercolour heightened with white 60 x 85 cm
Private Collection |
![]() |
Portrait of a Woman
oil on canvas 57 x 43 cm
Atkinson Art Gallery Collection, Southport, UK |
![]() |
Salute, the Yellow Sail
watercolour 85 x 59 cm
Private Collection |
![]() |
Sand Dunes, Dunbar
oil on canvas 24 x 34 cm
Private Collection |
![]() |
Sandhills Valley
oil on canvas 110.5 x 141 cm
Private Collection |
![]() |
Shelter from the Sun
watercolour 25 x 35.5 cm
Private Collection |
![]() |
Spanish Street, Night
oil on canvas 75 x 92 cm
Private Collection |
![]() |
Stable Boy with Fez, Soldiers Seated, Morocco
oil on panel 30 x 44 cm |
![]() |
Standing Stones
watercolour on paper 75 x 125 cm
Private Collection |
![]() |
Summer at Wimbledon
pastel 71 x 54.5 cm
Private Collection |
![]() |
The Abduction
pencil and watercolour 30.4 x 44.4 cm
Private Collection |
![]() |
The Arab Donkey
watercolour 49.5 x 33 cm |
![]() |
The Boat Builders, Gondolas Ashore
watercolour 59.6 x 85.1 cm
Kirkcaldy Museum and Art Gallery, Fife, UK |
![]() |
The Cock Fight
watercolour and bodycolour 75.5 x 60 cm |
![]() |
The Fruit Market, Tangiers
watercolour 59.5 x 85 cm
Private Collection |
![]() |
The Innkeeper
oil on canvas 58.4 x 46.8 cm
Private Collection |
![]() |
The Market Stall
oil on panel 31.5 x 42.5 cm
Kirkcaldy Museum and Art Gallery, Fife, UK |
![]() |
The Return from Calvary
oil on canvas 385 x 35.3 cm
Leeds Art Gallery, UK |
![]() |
The Rooster
pencil and watercolour on linen 51 x 37 cm
Private Collection |
