A Meeting by the River

John Dawson Watson was a painter, watercolourist and illustrator. He was born in Sedbergh, Yorkshire, the son of Dawson Watson, a solicitor. He studied at the Manchester School of Design and at the Royal Academy Schools. He returned to work in Manchester in 1852. In the late 1850s his work came to the attention of Ford Madox Brown who invited him to exhibit at his house in London. His early work shows a strong Pre-Raphaelite feeling for colour and detail. At around this time, some of his drawings were seen by Routledge, who commissioned him to make a series of illustrations for Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress. These proved very successful and were soon followed by illustrations to Robinson Crusoe, The Arabian Nights and many other books and periodicals. Watson exhibited at the Royal Academy 1853 to 1890, the British Institution, the Society of British Artists, the old Watercolour Society, Grosvenor Gallery and elsewhere. He was elected an associate of the Society of Painters in Watercolours in 1864 and a member in 1869. In 1865 he moved to Milford in Surrey, near his brother-in-law, Myles Birket Foster, for whose house he designed the furniture and decorations. Works by him are in the Tate Gallery, Victoria & Albert Museum, Manchester City Art Gallery and many other public collections.