Hugh Ramsay Symposium - Gray (NGA) - Ramsay + Lambert

This paper will discuss how after meeting on board ship in September 1900, Ramsay and Lambert spent time together during the early 1900s. These two years were important for both artists, and Ramsay's influence on Lambert significant. They lived near each other in the Boulevard Saint-Jacques in the Latin Quarter, they studied together at the Colarossi and Delécluze academies, and they visited galleries and exhibitions together. In addition, they looked at the work of other artists such as Velasquez, Puvis de Chavannes, Whistler and Sargent, and learnt from this. At this stage in their careers Ramsay was more advanced than Lambert. However, what Lambert learnt from Ramsay and from the artists they studied remained with him for the rest of his life and resonated in his later paintings. Moreover, when Lambert went to Europe, he turned away from painting nationalist rural subjects and began to paint figure groups and portraits, as did Ramsay. In Europe that was the way an artist could most easily make a living. To develop their skill as portraitists, Lambert began making portraits of his friend and Ramsay painted many self-portraits. Lambert kept two of his portraits of Ramsay as a memento of his friend, and they were still in Lambert's possession when he died.