# Robert-Gemmel Hutchison artist context and auction value notes Canonical page: https://appraisily.com/artist/robert-gemmel-hutchison/ Profile generated: 2026-05-05T03:39:00.000Z Quality: high confidence, strong sources ## Artist identity - Death date: 1936-08-23 - Nationality: Scottish, British - Movements: British Impressionism, Scottish landscape school - Common media: Oil on canvas, Watercolour ## About Robert-Gemmel Hutchison Robert Gemmell Hutchison (1855–1936) was a Scottish painter best known for his coastal landscapes and genre scenes depicting everyday life along the Scottish shoreline. A member of both the Royal Scottish Academy (RSA) and the Royal Scottish Society of Painters in Watercolour (RSW), Hutchison occupied a respected position within the Edinburgh art establishment at the turn of the twentieth century. His work is associated with British Impressionism, blending a Scottish landscape tradition with a looser, light-filled approach to colour and atmosphere. Paintings such as Children Wading, Coast Scene with Girl, and The Dead Seagull show his recurring interest in the interplay between figures and the sea. Hutchison's subjects — fisherfolk, children at play, and quiet domestic moments — gave his coastal compositions broad popular appeal and continue to circulate regularly at auction in the UK and beyond. ## Common works and media Hutchison's most commonly encountered works are oil paintings and watercolours of Scottish coastal scenes, often featuring children, fisherfolk, or domestic figures against seascape backdrops. Titles recorded in authority files include Children Wading, Coast Scene with Girl, The Dead Seagull, A Fresh Day at Machrihanish, Baby by Fireside, and A Dutch Mother. Smaller oil sketches, study panels, and exhibition-sized canvases all appear at auction. Works are typically signed with his full name or initials. ## Market and appraisal context Robert Gemmell Hutchison's auction market is anchored by sales at Christie's and Sotheby's, with 12 lots recorded in Appraisily's auction index spanning 2007–2025. Of those, 7 carry realised prices. The core of the market consists of oil paintings sold at Christie's London in 2007–2008, where prices ranged from £250 (Collecting driftwood, small work) to £18,600 (On the boats, Christie's, May 2007). The median priced lot sits near £3,120 (GBP), with the upper quartile around £3,600. Major genre compositions with narrative detail — children, boats, coastal genre scenes — command the highest prices. The most recent auction entry (December 2025, Theodore Bruce, AUD 90) appears to be a misattributed lot for a different artist (Robert G Baker) and should be excluded from Hutchison-specific valuation analysis. Genuine Hutchison lots have not appeared at auction since a Sotheby's offering in July 2023 (Waiting on the milkman, unsold or price not published). Liquidity is low, with effectively zero confirmed Hutchison sales in the past 12 months. ## Auction-house-backed market evidence Robert Gemmell Hutchison's auction market is anchored by sales at Christie's and Sotheby's, with 12 lots recorded in Appraisily's auction index spanning 2007–2025. Of those, 7 carry realised prices. The core of the market consists of oil paintings sold at Christie's London in 2007–2008, where prices ranged from £250 (Collecting driftwood, small work) to £18,600 (On the boats, Christie's, May 2007). The median priced lot sits near £3,120 (GBP), with the upper quartile around £3,600. Major genre compositions with narrative detail — children, boats, coastal genre scenes — command the highest prices. The most recent auction entry (December 2025, Theodore Bruce, AUD 90) appears to be a misattributed lot for a different artist (Robert G Baker) and should be excluded from Hutchison-specific valuation analysis. Genuine Hutchison lots have not appeared at auction since a Sotheby's offering in July 2023 (Waiting on the milkman, unsold or price not published). Liquidity is low, with effectively zero confirmed Hutchison sales in the past 12 months. ### Appraisal notes Appraisily would use these auction records as comparable-lot evidence alongside physical inspection of the work. For an individual appraisal, the following would be gathered: high-resolution photographs of the front, back, and signature; documented dimensions and medium (oil on canvas vs watercolour); condition report covering craquelure, relining, inpainting, or surface wear; provenance history including gallery labels, exhibition stamps, and ownership chain; and comparable lot data from the Christie's 2007 group. The wide price dispersion (£250–£18,600) means that subject, size, and condition are the primary differentiators. Works with strong narrative genre content (children, coastal activity) and larger exhibition-scale canvases sit at the top; smaller studies and watercolours at the lower end. Because no catalogue raisonné exists, signature verification and provenance documentation carry extra weight in attribution. ### Valuation factors - [object Object] - [object Object] - [object Object] - [object Object] - [object Object] - [object Object] ### Collector notes ### Market caveats - The Appraisily auction-record index contains a misattributed lot (December 2025, Theodore Bruce, AUD 90, titled 'Robert G (Bob) Baker, Australia (b. 1937), Moonrise') that does not belong to Robert Gemmell Hutchison. Price statistics in the source pack (minPrice: 90) are affected by this entry. - Only 7 of 12 recorded lots carry realised prices, limiting the reliability of price-distribution analysis. Five lots have null prices (unsold, bought-in, or price not published). - The priced dataset is heavily concentrated in a single Christie's sale (25 May 2007, 5 lots). This single-sale clustering may not represent the broader market accurately. - No catalogue raisonné or published oeuvre catalogue exists, making attribution verification dependent on signature analysis, provenance, and specialist consultation. - Recent liquidity is very low: 1 lot in the last 12 months (the misattributed Baker entry) and 0 priced lots in the preceding 12 months. The market may be thinner than historical data suggests. ### Market evidence sources - undefined: https://appraisily.com/api/scraper-search/artists/robert-gemmel-hutchison/seo-profile?recentLimit=24&relatedLimit=0 - undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-robert-g-bob-baker-australia-b-1937-moonrise-acrylic-on-canvas-6643-c-05a269855e ## Appraisily data basis Appraisily artist pages combine identity research from museum archives, library authority files, and biographical references with auction records, sale dates, realised prices, and comparable lot data when those records are available. For Robert Gemmell Hutchison, sources include Wikidata, the Getty Union List of Artist Names, VIAF, the RKD Netherlands Institute, and Wikipedia, supplemented by Appraisily's auction database. ## Sources - Wikidata: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q18672160 - Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Gemmell_Hutchison - Getty Vocabulary Program: https://vocab.getty.edu/page/ulan/500031069 - VIAF: https://viaf.org/viaf/228717445/ - RKD Netherlands Institute: https://rkd.nl/en/explore/artists/40741