Sir Joseph Noel Paton RSA (1821-1901)

Biography

Scottish painter, born in Dunfermline to a family of weavers. He studied at the Royal Academy, London, and became a painter of historical, fairy, allegorical and religious subjects, in a style close to that of the Pre-Raphaelites. He was appointed Queen's Limner for Scotland from 1866. He also published two volumes of poems.

Father: Joseph Neil Paton, an accomplished damask designer

Mother: Catherine McDiarmid, claimed to be a direct descendant of Robert the Bruce and Malcolm Canmore

1821 – Born December 13^th, 1821 in Dunfermline, raised in Wooer’s Alley cottage, within sight of the Abbey and Palace ruins.

1838 – Head designer at a muslin factory in Paisley.

1843 – Enrolled at Royal Academy School, London

1846 – Painted ‘The Quarrel of Oberon and Titania’

1847 – Painted ‘The Reconciliation of Oberon and Titania’

Elected associate member of the Royal Scottish Academy

1848 – Drew ‘Faust in the Witch’s Kitchen’ from Part One of Goethe’s Faust

1850 – Elected full member of the Royal Scottish Academy

1858 – Married Margaret Ferrier; moved to 33 George Square, Edinburgh

1861 – Published Poems by A Painter

1863 – Illustrated Coleridge’s Rime of the Ancient Mariner

1866 – Appointed Queen’s Limner for Scotland

1867 – Knighted

1867 – Published Spindrift, another volume of poetry.

1875 – Honorary Degree LLD from Edinburgh University

1880 – Illustrated Water Babies, written by Charles Kingsley

1888 – Freeman of the Royal Burgh of Dunfermline

1901 – Died December 26, 1901 in Edinburgh.

He designed a stained glass window for the nave of Dunfermline Abbey. His three most successful religious paintings are ‘Vigilate et Orate’, ‘The Man of Sorrows’ and ‘The Good Shepherd’. He and his wife raised eleven children. Queen Victoria commissioned and purchased several of his paintings.

Joseph Noel’s brother, Waller Hugh Paton (July 27, 1828 – March 8, 1895), was also a painter in oil & watercolor, sculptor, illustrator and engraver. Together with Joseph Noel, he illustrated Lays of the Scottish Cavaliers and Poems and Songs (by Robert Burns).

Sister Amelia became a sculptress.

Joseph Noel’s eldest son, Diarmid Noel Paton (b. 1859), became professor of Physiology in Glasgow in 1906.

Joseph Noel’s son, Frederick Noel Paton (b. 1861), became director of Commercial Intelligence to the Government of India in 1905.

Paton’s close friends in the artistic world included John Everett Millais, whom he met at the Royal Academy School, and John Ruskin.

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Personal Interest

I lived in Dunfermline for a few months (spring of 1991). While there, I traveled to nearby Edinburgh often. I went to the National Gallery of Scotland, and there first saw Paton’s two works: The Quarrel of Oberon and Titiana and The Reconciliation of Oberon and Titiana. I could look at these two works for a long time. Then I found out that Paton was from Dunfermline. Two works of his hang in the Dunfermline City Chambers, but I’ve never been inside to see them (‘The Spirit of Religion’ (1845) and ‘Queen Margaret and Malcolm Canmore’ (1886)).

Back in the US, I saw a print of The Reconciliation hanging in an antique shop. It was something like $100. I passed. I have regretted that omission ever since, for I have not seen a Paton print in any shop or catalog.

Paton also illustrated an edition of Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s Rime of the Ancient Mariner, a favorite of mine. I found this out in 1998 when visiting William Wordsworth’s house at Grasmere (in England’s Lake District), which happened to be showing a traveling exhibit celebrating the Rime. The classic Rime illustrator was Gustave Dore. I have a reprint of the Dore-illustrated version at home.

In a great crossover, the heavy metal band Iron Maiden wrote a song about the Rime (on Powerslave, 1984). I’m not a metal fan, but I do like this song. It’s long (over 13 minutes) and gives a great interpretation of the story (lyrics). Mp3’s are out there… Here’s a clip from the Iron Maiden site.

Paton’s two paintings, The Quarrel and the Reconciliation, of course derive from Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. I have a leather bound, boxed copy of the play illustrated by Charles Vess. It is one of my favorite books. Here is a link to someone who really likes the character Puck. His links lead many places.

3/2005: I added the entry for Joseph Noel Paton to Wikipedia. 12/2005: Thanks to all those who have updated it so nicely.

2006: I purchased Water Babies, by Charles Kingsley, illustrated by Paton (frontispiece and page 150):

The Works of Charles Kingsley, Volume IX, The Water Babies. Published in London by Macmillan and Co., 1880.

(6/24/2007 note: this book is included with Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland and MacDonald’s The Princess and the Goblin as being one of the direct ancestors of Fantasy Literature – reference professor Michael Drout of Wheaton College.)

October, 2007: Here's a neat thread of connection through a number of topics –

Dunfermline has Malcolm Canmore’s tower – he’s the guy who killed Macbeth in 1057. I like Shakespeare's Macbeth. I just read it. Macbeth was written for James I of England – son of Mary Stuart (James I, by the way, is descended directly from Banquo, also of Macbeth fame). Mary & Elizabeth are the subject of a book I’m reading right now, and the subject of these two Elizabeth movies. The movies are directed by Shekhar Kapur. He, along with Deepak Chopra, are behind Virgin Comics, which published the graphic novel Ramayan 3392 AD, a futuristic take on the Ramayana of India. I just recently purchased and read this book as well. So that’s how you can get from Dunfermline to Indian Mythology in just a few steps!