Robert Sivell
Robert Sivell (1888–1958) was a Scottish portrait artist active in the first half of the 20th century. He was a founder member of the Glasgow Society of Artists and Sculptors in 1919. Biography Sivell was born in Paisley, Renfrewshire, but lived in Kirkcudbright, Galloway for long periods of his adult life. While beginning evening studies at the Glasgow School of Art with Fra Newbery in 1908, Sivell was still working as an apprentice engineer and he had to abandon the art course in 1910. He lacked the means to attend school full time. In 1912 he travelled to Canada and also visited Paris and Florence, but he returned to Scotland in 1914 as the country readied for war, using his engineering skills to fit out trawlers and drifters for mine-sweeping and other operations. He also worked on the Boom Defence of Cromarty. In 1916 he joined the Merchant Navy. When he left it, Sivell moved to Glasgow, where he could paint evenings and weekends, sharing a studio with Archibald McGlashon. Sivell met Isobel Sayers from Kirkcudbright while she was visiting Glasgow; they married in 1923. They rented a bungalow on the River Dee across from Kirkcudbright. They had one child,