The now largely forgotten Robert Brough met S.J. Peploe in 1892 at the Royal Scottish Academy schools and they became firm friends. They decamped to Paris in 1894 sharing digs and enrolling at the Académie Julian. Two precocious talents, they soaked up the latest trends from Impressionism to Gauguin’s Nabis group. Their youthful (1890s) technique, characterised by the loose brushwork and muted tones of Fieldworkers, reflects their closeness and ambition as artists. Brough became an innovative portrait painter, mentored by John Singer Sargent. It is likely that Brough introduced him to Peploe, who practised Sargent’s ‘alla prima’ wet-on-wet technique (see Paris Plage). Brough was killed in a train crash in 1905, aged 33.

Robert Brough RA ARSA, 1872-1905

Born in Invergordon, Brough attended Gray's School of Art while apprenticed to a lithographic firm in Aberdeen. He had a precocious talent. Going to the Royal Scottish Academy's Life Class in Edinburgh, he won three prizes in his first year. When S.J. Peploe joined the class, he and Brough became firm friends. In 1894 they went to Paris together, enrolling at the Académie Julian. That same year Brough visited Brittany for the first time. For the next three years he worked as a painter in Aberdeen before moving to London. In Chelsea he became a friend of John Singer Sargent, who had a profound effect on his work. In his portraiture Brough adopted a bold, bravura approach, winning medals in Munich, Dresden and Paris. His meteoric rise was prematurely ended by his tragic death in a railway accident at the age of thirty-three.