Margaret Cameron

Mary Margaret Cameron (9 March 1865 – 15 February 1921) was a Scottish artist, known for her depictions of everyday Spanish life. She exhibited 54 works at the Royal Scottish Academy between 1886 and 1919.

Early life and education

Mary Margaret Cameron was born on 9 March 1865 in Portobello in Edinburgh, the third of six children of Mary Brown Small and Duncan Cameron. Her father was associated with the Edinburgh printing and stationery firm of Macniven and Cameron and the inventor of the "Waverley" pen-nib. Her father also owned The Oban Times newspaper. Her mother was a member of the Smalls of Dirnanean of Perthshire. Cameron was the younger sister of Flora Macaulay – widow of the Rev Robert Blair – who was editor of The Oban Times newspaper until her death in 1958, aged 99.

Cameron first began her art education at 16 through the Trustees Drawing Academy of Edinburgh and began to win prizes from the age of 17. She took classes at the Edinburgh Veterinary College to perfect her understanding of animal anatomy, and developed a particular skill for depicting horses. This reflected her early interest in unusual subject matter, and was helped by her ability to use her own horse as a model.

Spain

In 1900, Cameron travelled to Madrid in Spain to study the work of 17th-century Spanish painter, Diego Velázquez. She fell in love with the country, its people and culture. She painted many Spanish scenes, violent and masculine topics such as battlefields, horse racing and particularly bullfights, and lived for a time in Madrid and Seville. She generated controversy in her native Scotland over her realistic portrayal of the sometimes brutal bullfighting scenes.