Background
He was born in Glasgow, where he studied before moving to Paris, where he became a pupil of Aimé Morot and of Pascal Dagnan-Bouveret.
He was born in Glasgow, where he studied before moving to Paris, where he became a pupil of Aimé Morot and of Pascal Dagnan-Bouveret.
Returning to Scotland in 1884, he spent time at Cocksburnpath with other future Glasgow Boys James Guthrie, Joseph Crawhall and Arthur Melville. He also showed regularly with the Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts, of which he was honorary secretary for many years. He became an associate of the Republic of South Africa in 1911, and a full academician in 1922.
Whitelaw Hamilton"s work was shown in the British Pavilion at the Venice Biennale at all eight biennales between 1897 and 1910.
In 1897, 1899 and 1901 he was part of the Scottish artists" section of the exhibition.
In 1887 he was elected a member of the New English Art club, exhibiting at their annual exhibitions in London. He was also a member of the Royal Scottish Society of Painters in Watercolour (RSW).