David Forrester Wilson, RSA (1873-1950)
David Wilson was born in Glasgow. Painter of portraits and decorative subjects. He was also an etcher. As a son of a lithographer, he was educated at Gorbals Public School and Glasgow School of Art. Commissioned by Glasgow Corporation to paint one of a series of large decorative panels in the banqueting hall of the Glasgow municipal buildings.
In 1890 he abandoned a business career in order to study at the Glasgow School of Art under Professor Deville winning a Haldane Scholarship in 1901. In 1905 he went to Europe and continued to study in Italy, Belgium, Paris and London. He was the Head of Drawing and Painting at the Glasgow School of Art for seven years.
His painting is characterised by fine drawing and colour and a strong sense of decoration. It is poetical in feeling which he often expressed through allegory.