Identity:

Walford Graham Robertson was a painter, designer and collector.

Life:

He was also a collector and patron of JW, whom he met in 1890, when he bought Arrangement in Brown and Black: Portrait of Miss Rosa Corder (YMSM 203). He also owned Crepuscule in Flesh Colour and Green: Valparaiso (YMSM 73) and Design for a Mosaic (M.1226). Robertson contributed a spoke to the fan decorated by various artists, including JW, in 1894/1898 (Dancing girl, on a fan (M.1423)). In 1892, he looked after Nocturne: Blue and Gold - St Mark's, Venice (YMSM 213) when JW moved to Paris. He wrote poetry and lived at Sandhills, Witley, Surrey. He exhibited at the RBA. In his memoirs, Time Was, he recorded the world of the Pre-Raphaelites and the theatre, and he describes JW as 'courteous, kindly and affectionate' and 'a pitiless critic of his own output'.

Bibliography:

Robertson, W. Graham, Time Was: the Reminiscences of W. Graham Robertson, London and New York, 1931; Maas, Jeremy, The Victorian Art World in Photographs, London, 1984.