The Horse Pool, New Abbey

Walton was born in Renfrewshire and spent two winters studying art in Dusseldorf before attending Glasgow School of Art. It was there that he met James Guthrie and the two painted together along with Joseph Crawhall at Rosneath on the Clyde in the summer of 1879. This was to be the beginnings of the group that came to be known as the Glasgow Boys. Walton acquired a studio in Cambuskenneth, Stirling, in the late 1880s and many of the Glasgow Boys were visitors, taking the opportunity to paint the landscape and villages around the Trossachs. Between 1894 and 1904 Walton lived in London and spent summers painting in Suffolk. When he returned to Scotland he settled in Edinburgh and worked predominantly as a portrait painter often returning to paint in Suffolk. It was not until the First World War that Walton discovered the landscape of Galloway.   Recognised as one of the leading Scottish painters of this generation, Walton's main interest was landscape painting but he was a gifted portrait artist. His work reflected the influence of the English artist James Abbot McNeil Whistler, who Walton greatly admired.