​GEDDES, ANDREW (1783–1844), British painter, was bornat Edinburgh. After receiving a good education in the highschool and in the university of that city, he was for five years inthe excise office, in which his father held the post of deputyauditor. After the death of his father, who had opposed hisdesire to become an artist, he came to London and entered theRoyal Academy schools. His first contribution to the exhibitionsof the Royal Academy, a “St John in the Wilderness,” appearedat Somerset House in 1806, and from that year onwards Geddeswas a fairly constant exhibitor of figure-subjects and portraits.His well-known portrait of Wilkie, with whom he was on termsof intimacy, was at the Royal Academy in 1816. He alternatedfor some years between London and Edinburgh, with someexcursions on the Continent, but in 1831 settled in London, andwas elected associate of the Royal Academy in 1832; and he ​died in London of consumption in 1844. A very able executant,a good colourist, and a close student of character, he made hischief success as a portrait-painter, but he produced occasionalfigure subjects and landscapes, and executed some admirablecopies of the old masters as well. He was also a good etcher.His portrait of his mother, and a portrait study, called “Summer,”are in the National Gallery of Scotland, and his portrait of SirWalter Scott is in the Scottish National Portrait Gallery.