{{Use British English|date=September 2014}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2026}} {{Infobox artist | name = James Orrock RI | native_name = | native_name_lang = | image = James Orrock00.jpg | image_size = | alt = | caption = James Orrock | birth_name = | birth_date = 1829 | birth_place = Edinburgh, Scotland | death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1913|05|10|1829|01|01}} | death_place = Shepperton, Middlesex, England | resting_place = | resting_place_coordinates = <!-- {{Coord|LAT|LON|type:landmark|display=inline,title}} --> | spouse = | field = Watercolour Landscape | training = James Ferguson<br />William L. Leitch<br />John Burgess | alma_mater = Nottingham School of Design under Thomas Stuart Smith | movement = | works = | patrons = | awards = Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolours<br />Royal Scottish Academy<br />Royal Academy | memorials = | elected = | website = <!-- {{URL|Example.com}} --> | bgcolour = | module = }} thumb|"Storm Approaching", watercolour, c. 1890

'''James Orrock R.I., R.O.I.''' (1829 – 10 May 1913), was a prominent Scottish collector of art and oriental ceramics, illustrator and landscape watercolourist. The scale of his involvement with the art trade and with top collectors such as John Ruskin is highlighted in the large two volume set of books published about him by Byron Webber: published in London, Chatto and Windus 1903: James Orrock R.I., Painter, Connoisseur, Collector. Rather than being a forger as some modern scholars like to believe Orrock was a dedicated enthusiast of contemporary British art and emulated some of those artists in his own work. He illustrated three books in the style of Turner: Mary Queen-of-Scots, 1906; Old England : her story mirrored in her scenes, 1908; and, In the Border country, 1906.<ref name=LivMusLvOr>{{cite web|url=http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/ladylever/exhibitions/masterpiece/orrock/|title=Lever and James Orrock|publisher=Lady Lever Art Gallery|accessdate=25 January 2014}}</ref><ref name=Reed/><ref name=UniMan/>

==Life==

James was the son of James Orrock, an Edinburgh surgeon, dentist and druggist, living at 17 Elm Row at the top of Leith Walk.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://digital.nls.uk/83401347|title=Edinburgh Post Office annual directory, 1832-1833|website=National Library of Scotland|access-date=2018-01-24}}</ref> The family moved to 2 York Place when he was young.<ref>Edinburgh Post Office Directory 1840</ref>

He was educated in medicine, surgery, and dentistry at Edinburgh University, after which he practised as a dentist in Nottingham. Orrock studied painting under James Ferguson, William L. Leitch, and John Burgess, later enrolling at the Nottingham School of Design where he was taught by Thomas Stuart Smith.

He settled in London by 1866, becoming an associate of the Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours in 1871, exhibiting at the Royal Scottish Academy and Royal Academy. His later style was highly influenced by David Cox, his paintings today are in the collections of various museums and galleries, including the Victoria and Albert Museum.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O133334/a-hayfield-in-surrey-oil-painting-orrock-james/|title=''A Hayfield in Surrey'' by James Orrock|date=22 May 1893 |publisher=Victoria and Albert Museum|accessdate=25 January 2014}}</ref>

A strong advocate of J. M. W. Turner and British art in general (owning several of J.M.W Turner's most important works), he was also an impassioned collector of Adam-style furniture decorated by Angelica Kauffman. A landscape painter in watercolour, and sometimes oils, he is now believed to have restored, altered and improved works by other painters within his collection. Orrock created art-period rooms in his house, which he opened to the general public.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.whistler.arts.gla.ac.uk/correspondence/biog/display/?bid=Orro_J|title=James Orrock, 1829–1913|publisher=University of Glasgow|accessdate=25 January 2014}}</ref>

Having on two previous occasions bought furniture and paintings from Orrock's personal collection,<ref name=LivMusLvOr/> on Orrock's death Lord Leverhulme bought most of his art collection, and some one thousand of his own paintings. Part of that collection was used to create the Lady Lever Art Gallery at Port Sunlight.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.kevindaniel.250x.com/uk.html |title=Art Collection |publisher=Kevindaniel.250x.com |accessdate=18 May 2010 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100805233746/http://www.kevindaniel.250x.com/uk.html |archivedate=5 August 2010 |df=dmy-all }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.artlands.com/artist.php?artistID=97 |title=For Exceptional Art. James Orrock |publisher=Artlands |date= |accessdate=18 May 2010 |archive-date=7 July 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110707165516/http://www.artlands.com/artist.php?artistID=97 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.jmwturner.ca/Connoisseurship%20James%20Orrock%20art%20expert%20Martin%20Butlin%20Joll.htm |title=Connosseurship |publisher=Jmwturner.ca |date= |accessdate=18 May 2010 |archive-date=27 May 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100527074431/http://www.jmwturner.ca/Connoisseurship%20James%20Orrock%20art%20expert%20Martin%20Butlin%20Joll.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nls.uk/collections/rare-books/collections/illustrators|title=19th-20th century Scottish illustrators|website=National Library of Scotland|language=en|access-date=2018-01-24}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/EP19130515.2.77|title=Obituary|date=1913-05-15|work=Evening Post|access-date=2018-01-24|pages=7}}</ref><ref name="LivMusLvOr"/>

Today, Orrock is also notable as having commissioned many of the copies associated with the works of John Constable.<ref name=Reed>{{cite web|url=http://academic.reed.edu/art/faculty/rhyne/papers/deaccessioning.html|title=Deaccessioning John Constable: The Complexity of Authenticity|author=Charles S. Rhyne|publisher=Reed College|date=17 February 1994|accessdate=25 January 2014}}</ref><ref name=UniMan>{{cite web|url=http://www.manchester.ac.uk/aboutus/news/display/?id=7582|title=North East could solve riddle of lost Blake collection|publisher=University of Manchester|date=26 October 2011|accessdate=25 January 2014}}</ref> His association with one copy of ''A Sea Beach Brighton'' painting by Constable was featured on the BBC One's ''Fake or Fortune?'' in January 2014.<ref>BBC One ''Fake or Fortune'' episode 2/4, broadcast 26 January 2014</ref> Thomas Griffith, Turner's friend and agent/dealer was one of the executors of his estate. The artist gifted a very large early sea peace "Shipwreck, the Rescue" 161 x 222&nbsp;cm. to Griffith (presumably the documented "Stormy Picture" they had discussed, in need of cleaning and restoring c1844). This sea piece was one of the earliest, if not the first of Turner's monumental sea piece series, c1801-02. He was only 26 at the time and this series made his fame early on. "Shipwreck, the Rescue' passed from Sir J.C. Robinson, surveyor of Queen Victoria's pictures, then to James Orrock Esq.

==Family==

His brother Hector Heatly Orrock (1831-1862) was a short-lived architect involved in railway station design with Sir Thomas Bouch.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.scottisharchitects.org.uk/architect_full.php?id=202390|title=Hector Heatly Orrock|last=Goold|first=David|website=www.scottisharchitects.org.uk|access-date=2018-01-24}}</ref>

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== {{Commons category}} * {{Gutenberg author | id=35461| name=James Orrock}} * {{Internet Archive author |sname=James Orrock}} * {{Art UK bio}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Orrock, James}} Category:Artists from Edinburgh Category:Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Category:Scottish dentists Category:Scottish art collectors Category:Scottish orientalists Category:Scottish illustrators Category:Scottish watercolourists Category:British art forgers Category:1829 births Category:1913 deaths Category:19th-century Scottish painters Category:Scottish male painters Category:20th-century Scottish painters Category:19th-century British dentists Category:19th-century Scottish male artists Category:20th-century Scottish male artists