Peter Graham is a Scottish painter who was born in Edinburgh in 1836 and died in 1921. He was known for his landscapes, which he captured in an impressive way with wild brushstrokes. Undoubtedly he was influenced by the rough nature of Scotland, which he portrayed again and again in exciting paintings. The artist studied portrait painting at the Trustees Academy Edinburgh until 1859. In 1866 he moved to London, where he painted landscapes for Queen Victoria. These commissioned works brought him much fame; in 1881 he became a full member of the Royal Academy of Arts.
The wild romantic is always the focus of Graham's works, which preferably show the Scottish Highlands. Wafts of mist, steep cliffs, foaming waves and cattle processions are the artist's favourite motifs. Due to the use of blue, grey, black and white tones and the effective perspective of the landscapes, the paintings attracted a lot of attention even during the artist's lifetime. An enormous spread of his work was favoured by the emergence of prints. Again and again the painter liked to draw highland cattle, some of which he kept on the grounds of his country house in Buckinghamshire. These often served him as models, as he attached great importance to a representation that was as realistic and detailed as possible.
Graham achieved fame with his painting Floods in the Highlands, which was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1866. In this and other of his landscape paintings, the influence of the paintings of Horatio McCulloch and the poetry of Sir Walter Scott can be felt, whose works had a lasting influence on him. Light and shade lend his landscape depictions a depth and dynamism that is often sought in vain in the works of his contemporaries. Although his landscape paintings are influenced by the spirit of Romanticism, they never slide into the picturesque because of the colouring. Rather, his primarily Scottish landscapes seem wild, unbridled and originally beautiful.