Sir William Russell Flint (1880-1969) was a Scottish artist and illustrator who was known especially for his watercolours of women. He was originally apprenticed as a lithographic draughtsman but during this time he began taking classes at the Royal Institute of Art in Edinburgh. He moved to London in 1900 to work as a medical illustrator whilst studying part-time at the Heatherley School of Fine Art and the British Museum. Flint visited Spain often and was impressed by Spanish dancers which he depicted frequently in his career. He achieved great commercial success during his lifetime but was derided by his critics who felt his eroticised treatment of the female figures were crass. In 1936 Flint was elected president of Britain’s Royal Society of Painter’s in Watercolours, now the Royal Watercolour Society and he was made an RA and ROI and was knighted later in 1947.
