David Watson Stevenson RSA
Born 25 March 1842
Died 18 March 1904
Active: 1859 - 1903
Country of birth and death: Scotland
Sculptor
Born Ratho, Midlothian. Pupil of William Brodie. Studied at RSA schools and in Rome. Sculptor of portrait busts and idealised subjects. Received numerous commissions for public statues and monuments but is best known for his statue of William Wallace on the National Wallace Monument, Stirling (1859-69). Died in Edinburgh.
Works
Dates are usually the year a work was exhibited so may differ from date of production.
New entries have been made each time a work was exhibited. Click here for more information.
Hero
1887
Young Boy
1868
H.R.H. Prince Albert Victor
1877 (Circa)
Lord Byron
1885
Tannahill
1885
The Late Dr Moffat, African Missionary
1885
Echo
1885
Sir Wyville Thomson
1885
Burns Model for the marble presented to the Wallace Monument , Stirling, by Andrew Carnegie, Esq.
1886 (Circa)
Italian Girl
1886 (Circa)
The Fair Maid of Perth
1887 (Circa)
Rosa, daughter of Thomas Bonnar, Esq.
1892
King Robert the Bruce
1892
£25
Miniature Bust of William Murdoch, Engineer and Inventor of Lighting by Gas
1893
The late Right Hon. John Bright
1893 (Circa)
Professor Blackie, LLD, HRSA
1893
His Royal Highness the late Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence and Avondale
1893 (Circa)
The late Principal Cairns
1894
H.R.H. Prince George, Duke of York
1894
William Symington, Engineer, designer and constructor of the first practical steam vessel, 1801-1802
1894
William Murdoch, Engineer, inventor of lighting by gas
1894
Sir John Fowler, Bart, CE
1894
Nymph at the Stream
1894 (Circa)
Flora Macdonald
1896
Highland Mary
1896 (Circa)
Bust of a Lady
1896
Lord Provost Mearns
1896 (Circa)
Edward Colston, the Philantropist of Bristol
1898
Baron Napier of Merchiston, Inventor of Logarithms, 1550-1617
1898
George Ogilvie Reid, Esq., RSA
1898
The late Dr A. K. H. Boyd, St Andrews
1900
An Octogenarian
1900
Gladstone
1900
Robert Louis Stevenson - Bronze Statuette
1901
Girl of the Foundling Hospital, London
1901
Echo
1901
Locations
Address Thomas Street Edinburgh | View on map
1868
Address 7 Comely Green Place Edinburgh | View on map
1859 (Circa)
Address 11 Brand Place Edinburgh | View on map
1860 (Circa)
Address Carrara Villa 39 West Dick Place Edinburgh | View on map
1861 (Circa) - 1865 (Circa)
Address Thomas Street Torphichen Street Edinburgh | View on map
1866 (Circa) - 1868 (Circa)
Address 2 Castle Terrace Edinburgh | View on map
1869 (Circa) - 1890 (Circa)
Studio located at Dean Studios Belford Road Edinburgh | View on map
1891 (Circa) - 1905 (Circa)
4 Belford Road also given as Lynedoch Place (around the corner from Belford Road)
Exhibitions, Meetings, Awards and other Events
Exhibited at Royal Hibernian Academy Annual Exhibition, 1868
Multiple works
Exhibited at Royal Hibernian Academy Annual Exhibition, 1901
Multiple works
Exhibited at The Exhibition of the Royal Scottish Academy of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, The Sixty-Sixth, 1892
'King Robert the Bruce'
Exhibited at First Exhibition of the Society of Scottish Artists, 1892
Multiple works
Exhibited at Aberdeen Artists' Society Exhibition of Works of Modern Artists, 1885
Multiple works
Exhibited at Aberdeen Artists' Society Exhibition of Works of Modern Artists, 1886
Multiple works
Exhibited at Aberdeen Artists' Society Exhibition of Works of Modern Artists, 1887
Multiple works
Exhibited at Aberdeen Artists' Society Exhibition of Works of Modern Artists, 1893
Multiple works
Exhibited at Aberdeen Artists' Society Exhibition of Works of Modern Artists, 1894
'H.R.H. Prince George, Duke of York'
Exhibited at Aberdeen Artists' Society Exhibition of Works of Modern Artists, 1896
'William Murdoch, Engineer, inventor of lighting by gas'
Exhibited at Aberdeen Artists' Society Exhibition of Works of Modern Artists, 1898
'Edward Colston, the Philantropist of Bristol'
Exhibited at Aberdeen Artists' Society Exhibition of Works of Modern Artists, 1900
'The late Dr A. K. H. Boyd, St Andrews'
Exhibited at Aberdeen Artists' Society Exhibition of Works of Modern Artists, 1906
'R. L. Stevenson'
Exhibited at Royal Academy of Art: The Exhibition of Scottish Art, 1939
'George Ogilvy Reid, RSA'
Exhibited at The Royal Scottish Academy Exhibition, 1826-
1859 - 1926
Exhibited at the annual exhibition 51 times: 1859 - 1926
Exhibited at Liverpool autumn exhibition of modern pictures: the fifth (Free Public Library and Museum, Liverpool), 1875
1875
The Blue Bell (cat. no. 1091, marble, £45).
Exhibited at Liverpool autumn exhibition of modern pictures: the seventh (Liverpool), 1877
1877
Nymph at the Stream (cat. no. 1320, marble, £450).
Exhibited at Autumn exhibition of modern pictures in oil and water-colours: the twenty-eighth (Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool), 1898
1898
Mrs Kent Murray (cat. no. 1410, not for sale).
Exhibited at Autumn exhibition of modern pictures in oil and water-colours: the twenty-eighth (Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool), 1898
1898
Robert Louis Stevenson (cat. no. 1412, bronze statuette, not for sale); Mrs Hemans ('from authentic sources', cat. no. 1417, not for sale).
Exhibited at Autumn exhibition of modern pictures in oil and water-colours: the twenty-ninth (Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool), 1899
1899
Miss Graham Stirling (cat. no. 1379, plaster bust, not for sale).
Exhibited at International Exhibition, Glasgow, 1901
1901
Exhibited at Autumn exhibition of modern pictures in oil and water-colours: the thirty-first (Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool), 1901
1901
H.I.M. The Czarina (cat. no. 1624, plaster bust, not for sale).
Speaker at Congress of the National Association of the Advancement of Arts, Edinburgh, 1889
Gave a lecture entitled 'The Picturesque in Sculpture'
Institutional and Business Connections
Adjudicated on a panel at Trustees Academy of Arts
1860 (Circa)
Won the South Kensingson national prize for a statuette reproduction of the Venus of Milo.
Elected ARSA The Royal Scottish Academy
1877
Elected RSA The Royal Scottish Academy
1886
Studied at Trustees Academy of Arts
1860 (Circa) - 1870 (Circa)
Studied modelling.
Personal and Professional Connections
Apprenticed to William Brodie
1860 (Circa) - 1880 (Circa)
Served an 8 year apprenticeship
Assistant to John Robert Steell
1865 - 1876
Assisted Steell on the Monument to Prince Albert, Edinburgh. Stevenson executed the Science and Learning groups himself.
Brother/sibling of William Grant Stevenson
1842
Student of William Brodie
1860 (Circa)
Descriptions of Practice
Listed under Sculptors Edinburgh & Leith Post-Office Directory 1870-1871
p. 432
Listed under Sculptors Edinburgh & Leith Post-Office Directory 1880-1881
p. 482
Listed under Sculptors Edinburgh & Leith Post Office Directory 1890-1891
p. 601
Listed under Sculptors Edinburgh & Leith Post Office Directory 1890-1891
p. 601
Listed under Sculptors Edinburgh & Leith Post Office Directory 1900-1901
p. 743
Listed under Sculptors
Sources
Aberdeen Artists' Society. Eighth Exhibition of Works of Modern Artists, 1896
October 1896
p. 47
Exhibited 4 works
Aberdeen Artists' Society. Ninth Exhibition of Works of Modern Artists, 1898
October 1898
p. 51
Aberdeen Artists' Society. Seventh Exhibition of Works of Modern Artists, 1894
October 1894
p. 44
Aberdeen Artists' Society. Tenth Exhibition of Works of Modern Masters, 1900
October 1900
p. 50
Aberdeen Artists' Society. Twelfth Exhibition of Works of Modern Masters, 1906
September 1906
p. 50
exhibited posthumously
Autumn exhibition of modern pictures in oil and water-colours: the twenty-eighth, 1898 Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool
1898
pp. 45-48.
Autumn exhibition of modern pictures in oil and water-colours: the twenty-ninth, 1899 Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool
1899
pp. 48-52.
Catalogue of the Exhibition of Scottish Art 1939, Royal Academy of Arts, London
1939
p. x1
Edinburgh & Leith Post Office Directory 1890-1891
1890 (Circa)
p. 601
Edinburgh & Leith Post Office Directory 1890-1891
1890 (Circa)
p. 601
Edinburgh & Leith Post Office Directory 1900-1901
May 1900
p. 743
Listed under Sculptors
Edinburgh & Leith Post-Office Directory 1870-1871
25 May 1870
p. 432
Edinburgh & Leith Post-Office Directory 1880-1881
1880 (Circa)
p. 482
International Exhibition Glasgow, 1901,
Official Catalogue of the Fine Art Section
1901
Liverpool autumn exhibition of modern pictures, 1877 Walker Art Gallery
1877
pp. 69-71.
Public Sculpture of Glasgow Public Sculpture of Britain Volume Five
2002
p. 499
Society of Scottish Artists, Exhibition Catalogues 1892-1951
p. 45
The Dictionary of Scottish Art and Architecture
2004
p. 537
Transactions - National Association for the Advancement of Art, Edinburgh 1889
1890
p. 129
Citing this record
'David Watson Stevenson RSA', Mapping the Practice and Profession of Sculpture in Britain and Ireland 1851-1951, University of Glasgow History of Art and HATII, online database 2011 [http://sculpture.gla.ac.uk/view/person.php?id=msib6_1210848700, accessed 23 Mar 2023]
