"View of the Esk" (c. 1870) by George Paul Chambers. Oil on canvas, original plaster frame. 20.5" x 28".

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George Paul Chalmers (1833–1878), a Scotsman nicknamed “The Angus Rembrandt,” studied at Trustees Academy in Edinburgh under Robert Scott Lauder, and was a landscape, marine, interior and portrait painter.  His early career was taken up primarily with portrait painting, and two of his portraits of famous artists are displayed in the National Galleries of Scotland. Chalmers focused on painting landscapes and seascapes later in his career, and Running Water (1875), which is similar to this painting, is considered one of his three best. He was elected to the Royal Scottish Academy in 1871. Chalmers’ short but prolific career abruptly ended when he died as a result of a violent mugging in Edinburgh.  At the time of his death, he was already considered one of Scotland’s most prominent painters. His life and work have been commemorated in a book by Edward Pinnington, which was compiled with the aid of Chalmer’s patron, George B. Simpson. Chalmer’s portrait by John Pettie hangs in the National Portrait Gallery in London.