# Dictionary of National Biography, 1912 supplement/Paton, Joseph Noel

​PATON, Sir JOSEPH NOËL (1821–1901), artist, born on 13 December 1821, at Dunfermline, was elder son of Joseph Neil Paton, designer of patterns for damask (the staple industry of the town), who was a collector of works of art and after many phases of religious development became a Swedenborgian. His mother, Catherine MacDiarmid, who claimed descent from Malcolm Canmore, through the Robertsons ​of Struan, was an enthusiast for fairy-tales and the traditions and legends of the Highlands. His younger brother, Waller Hugh [q. v.], was the landscape-painter, and one of his two sisters, Amelia (1820-1904), who married David Octavius Hill [q. v.], modelled with skill and executed several public statues of merit. At an early age the boy Joseph, who read widely, was impressed by the designs, as well as the poetry, of William Blake. By the time he was fourteen he had made a series of illustrations to the Bible. After completing his general education at a local school, he in 1839 assisted his father in designing, and for the next three years (1840-42) held a situation as a designer for sewed muslins in Paisley. His leisure was devoted to art, and he commenced to paint in oils. In 1843 he entered the schools of the Royal Academy in London, where he began a lifelong friendship with (Sir) John Everett Millais [q. v. Suppl. I], but the Academy training proved uncongenial, and Paton soon went north again. Senior to the Pre-Raphaehtes by a few years, Paton sympathised with their ideals, and anticipated some of their practice, but he did not share their ardour for reality, and his pictures, being more conventional both in subject and in style than theirs, more readily won popular approval. In the Westminster Hall competitions, held in connection with the decoration of the Houses of Parliament, Paton was awarded in 1845, when he was only twenty-four, one of the three 200l. premiums for his cartoon 'The Spirit of Religion or The Battle of the Soul,' and in 1847 the sum of 300l. for his oil-paintings of 'The Reconciliation of Oberon and Titania' and 'Christ bearing the Cross,' a colossal canvas. To 'The Reconciliation' (1847) Paton soon added a companion painting, 'The Quarrel of Oberon and Titania' (1849), the former being purchased by the Royal Scottish Academy, the latter by the Royal Association; both are now in the National Gallery of Scotland. They received enthusiastic welcome, and thenceforth Paton enjoyed an outstanding position, at any rate in Scotland. Elected an associate of the Royal Scottish Academy in 1847, he became an academician in 1850.
From 1856 to 1869 Paton exhibited fourteen pictures at the Royal Academy, and diuing that period fully maintained his popularity as painter of scenes from fairy tale or history. 'Home from the Crimea' (1856) was one of the few pictures in which the artist touched contemporary life. He showed technical accomplishment and intensity of feeling in 'Luther at Erfurt' (1861). 'The Fairy Raid' (1867) evinced abundant fancy. Other notable works of this time were 'Dante meditating the Episode of Francesca da Rimini' (1852); 'The Dead Lady' (1854); 'In Memoriam' (1857); 'Hesperus' (1858), now in the Glasgow Gallery; 'The Bluidie Tryste' (1858); 'The Dowie Dens of Yarrow' series (1860). 'The Pursuit of Pleasure' (1855) is the first work in which Paton's strong leaning to allegory was revealed. In 1865 Paton was made by Queen Victoria Her Majesty's Limner for Scotland, and he was knighted in 1867. Meantime, while not wholly abandoning fanciful or romantic subjects, he devoted his chief strength to religious themes. 'Mors Janua Vitæ,' shown in 1866 at the Royal Academy, marks the beginning of the series to which belong 'Faith and Reason' (1871); 'Satan watching the Sleep of Christ' (1874); 'Lux in Tenebris' (1879); 'In Die Malo' (1881); 'Vigilate et Orate' (1885), painted for Queen Victoria; 'The Choice' (1886); and 'Beati Mundo Corde' (1890). These large pictures were not shown in the usual exhibitions, but were sent on tour all over the country, with footlights and a lecturer; they proved highly popular, and long lists of subscribers for reproductions were secured. But their artistic value and interest were small, and Paton's reputation among connoisseurs declined.
Paton's gift was that of an illustrator. He valued intention more highly than execution, and set moral purpose above aesthetic charm. His work lacks the true effects of colour. Technically his strongest qualities were drawing, which was correct and was marked by a sense of suave beauty; the design, if wanting in simplicity and concentration, was usually learned and accomplished. His draughtsmanship is seen at its best perhaps in his drawings and studies in black and white, and in the outline compositions he made in illustration of Coleridge's 'Ancient Mariner' (issued by the Art Union of London in 1864) and other poems. This feeling for form and design also found an outlet in some graceful works in sculpture and in a few ambitious projects of a monumental kind.
Paton's interests were varied. Widely read, he published two volumes of verse, 'Poems by a Painter' (1861) and 'Spindrift' (1867), marked by considerable charm and originality, mainly dealing with themes similar to those of his pictures. ​The delightful song, 'With the Sunshine and the Swallows and the Flowers,' set to music by the Rev. Dr. John Park, is widely known. His fine collection of art-objects and of arms and armour, which was admirably arranged in his Edinburgh house, 33 George Square, was purchased after his death, largely by public subscription, and placed in the Royal Scottish Museum, Chambers Street, Edinburgh. Paton was made hon. LL.D. by Edinburgh University in 1876, and on two occasions, in 1876 and again in 1891, he was offered the presidentship of the Royal Scottish Academy. He died at Edinburgh on 26 Dec. 1901, and was buried in the Dean cemetery.
In 1858 Paton married Margaret (d. April 1900), daughter of Alexander Ferrier, Bloomhill, Dumbartonshire; by her he had issue seven sons and four daughters. The eldest son, Dr. Diarmid Noël Paton, is professor of physiology in Glasgow University. In the Scottish National Portrait Gallery there is a marble bust of Paton by his sister, Mrs. Hill. Other portraits are a picture by his son Ranald, painter, and a bust by another son, who became a lawyer.
[Scotsman, and The Times, 27 Dec. 1901; Easter number, Art Journal, by A. T. Story, 1895; Scots Pictorial, 28 Aug. 1897; exhibition catalogues; Ruskin's Notes on the Royal Academy, 1856 and 1858; R.S.A. Report, 1902; catalogue, National Gallery of Scotland; J. L. Caw's Scottish painting, 1908; The English Pre-Raphaelites, by Percy Bate; private information.]
J. L. C.