Coutts Lindsay

Sir Coutts Lindsay, 2nd Baronet (2 February 1824 – 7 May 1913 Kingston upon Thames), was a British artist and watercolourist.

Lindsay was the eldest son of Lieutenant-General Sir James Lindsay, son of the Hon. Robert Lindsay, second son of James Lindsay, 5th Earl of Balcarres. His mother was Anne, daughter of Sir Coutts Trotter, 1st Baronet, a principal partner in Coutt's Bank. Robert Loyd-Lindsay, 1st Baron Wantage, was his younger brother. In 1839 he succeeded by special remainder to his maternal grandfather's baronetcy (which became extinct on Lindsay's own death). He then entered the army, commanding the 1st Regiment of the Italian Legion during the Crimean War before retiring from military life to devote himself to art. From 1862 to 1874 he exhibited many pictures, including various successful portraits. In 1879 he and his first wife, Lady Lindsay (of Balcarres), were both elected to membership of the Institute of Painters in Water Colours. His studio at 4-5 Cromwell Place was also used by Archibald Stuart-Wortley.

He and his first wife founded the Grosvenor Gallery in 1877 as an alternative to the Royal Academy. It was devoted to exhibiting works by the Pre-Raphaelites (then held to be too stylistically advanced for the Royal Academy) and becoming the focus of the Aesthetic Movement from then until its closure in 1890. Its inaugural exhibition on 1 May 1877 included James Whistler's Nocturne in Black and Gold: The Falling Rocket, leading to the famous libel trial between Whistler and John Ruskin. Coutts was important to the careers of Coutts' friends Whistler and George Frederic Watts in providing a sympathetic venue for the display of their work. However, the gallery declined after Lindsay separated from his first wife, and it closed in 1890. In the 30 years before her death she then lived in London and Venice, gathering a circle of friends including Alma Tadema, GF Watts and Robert Browning and collecting a number of fine paintings (some of which she left to the National Gallery). She also published several volumes of poetry, including From a Venetian Balcony (1903) and Poems of Love and Death (1907).

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