Stirling Smith Art Gallery and Museum

The Stirling Smith Art Gallery and Museum, formerly known as The Smith Institute was established by the bequest of artist Thomas Stuart Smith (1815–1869). It was founded as an art gallery of what was then mainly contemporary art, with a museum and library reading room. In 1863 the eponymous Smith had sold up in Scotland and relocated to London where he began to build a fine art collection, purchasing from his contemporaries both in Britain and in Europe. Thus the gallery opened five years after his death thanks to his collection and a legacy of £5000. The quality of the Stuart Smith collection of 19th century watercolours included fine examples by some of his contemporaries such as J.D Harding, David Cox and Elijah Walton.

Early exhibitors at the triennial Stirling Fine Art Association Exhibition's between 1881-1938 included Francis Cadell, McTaggart, Bessie MacNicol, Gemmell Hutchison and Anne Redpath. The local artistic community included William Kennedy, Joseph Denovan Adam, D. Y. Cameron, and Henry and Isobel Morley The Constitution of the Stirling Fine Art Association allowed the purchase of works of art to be added to the Smith collections from any surplus funds, after all expenses incurred by the exhibition had been defrayed. Unfortunately, these circumstances rarely occurred.