John Kelso Hunter (Scottish Painter)

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John Kelso Hunter (15th December 1802 - 3rd February 1873) was born in Dankeith, Scotland. He was a self-taught portrait painter and author of two books.

Self Portrait, 1858

There is little information of his early life. It is known that in 1799, his father moved the family from Chirnside, a village in Berwickshire, to take employment as a gardner at an Ayrshire estate owned by Colonel William Kelso. In his younger days, Hunter was employed as a herd boy on the estate, later on he took an apprenticeship as a shoemaker. On August 9th, 1822 he married Agnes Willock in Low Church, Kilmarnock, Scotland. In Kilmarnock he taught himself portrait painting while continuing his work as a shoemaker.

In 1847, Hunter had his 'Self Portrait as a Shoemaker' displayed at the Royal Academy of Arts in London, it was the only piece of his to be displayed there. He exhibited his painting 'A Man's Head' at the Annual Exhibitions of the Royal Scottish Academy in 1849. After 9 years, he gave the Academy his formal self-portrait piece. He contributed three other works, ‘A Roadside Inn, Ayr’ in 1868 and ‘From Above Port-Glasgow’ and 'Self Portrait as a Shoemaker' in 1872. (Displayed Below)

Self Portrait as a Shoemaker, 1847

During 1861 and 1873, Hunter exhibited seven paintings at the Royal Glasgow Institute of Fine Arts:

1861 - 'Self Portrait'
1862 - 'Dreghorn, Ayrshire'
1871 - 'The Reader'
1872 - 'Loch Lomond, from Mount Misery' and 'Gourock - looking up the Clyde'
1873 - 'Self Portrait as a Shoemaker' and 'From Above Port-Glasgow'

[edit] Children

Hunter and Willock had 13 children over a period of 22 years.

William HUNTER - Birth: 26th January 1823 (Kilmarnock, Scotland) Death: Unknown
Isabella HUNTER - Birth: 14th April 1824 (Kilmarnock, Scotland) Death: 29th December 1836 (Kilmarnock, Scotland)
John Kelso HUNTER - Birth: 4th June 1826 (Kilmarnock, Scotland) Death: 2nd March 1858 (Glasgow, Scotland)
Helen HUNTER - Birth: 29th December 1827 (Kilmarnock, Scotland) Death: Unknown
George HUNTER - Birth: 9th June 1828 (Kilmarnock, Scotland) Death: 12th May 1838 (Kilmarnock, Scotland)
Anne HUNTER - Birth: 22nd November 1830 (Kilmarnock, Scotland) Death: 1898 (Beechworth, Victoria, Australia)
David HUNTER - Birth: 19th May 1832 (Kilmarnock, Scotland) Death: Unknown
James HUNTER - Birth: 21st January 1834 (Kilmarnock, Scotland) Death: 7th June 1841 (Kilmarnock, Scotland)
Agnes HUNTER - Birth: 28th November 1835 (Kilmarnock, Scotland) Death: 18th April 1837 (Kilmarnock, Scotland)
Isabella HUNTER - Birth: 8th December 1838 (Kilmarnock, Scotland) Death: Unknown
George HUNTER - Birth: 9th September 1840 (Glasgow, Scotland) Death: Unknown
Susanna HUNTER - Birth: 7th May 1842 (Glasgow, Scotland) Death: 1st May 1843 (Glasgow, Scotland)
Harry Johnson HUNTER - Birth: 29th October 1845 (Glasgow, Scotland) Death: Unknown

According to Hunter's autobiography The Retrospect of an Artist's Life, his son John Kelso Jr was employed as a teacher and died at the young age of 33, Hunter wrote 'he fell into bad health'. He also wrote that his son's wife died shortly after him and his three sons were left to their maternal grandmother.

Hunter's daughter, Anne, married John Laidley Duncan in Scotland, they moved to Australia not long after their marriage in 1854. In 1859, Duncan formed an Iron Foundry with Mark Straughair in Beechworth, Australia. Anne and John had 12 children and 17 grandchildren together.

Harry Johnson, Hunter's youngest child, was also an artist, a landscape painter in oil and watercolour. It lists in The Dictionary of Scottish Art & Architecture, Harry Hunter exhibited 'A View of Cathcart Church' at the Royal Scottish Academy and Glasgow Institute of Fine Art.