Flora Macdonald Reid
British painter (1861–1938)
Flora Macdonald Reid or Flora M. Reid (1860 – 1938) was a British, Scottish painter and the sister of the artists John Robertson Reid and Elizabeth Reid.
Life
Reid was born in London in 1860, to Scottish parents, and the family later moved to Edinburgh. She studied at the Trustees School of Art, and was also tutored by her brother John. In 1881 she and her siblings returned to London, where they lived in the Haverstock Hill area of the city. Later in her life she spent a decade in Cornwall, living in Looe and Polperro.
Work
At the age of sixteen Reid exhibited work at the Royal Scottish Academy, at the Royal Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts from the age of 19, and at the Royal Academy from 20. She is recorded as showing paintings at the Royal Academy in 1900 with her paintings The Miller's Frau, A Wonderful Tale and A Man Convinced Against His Will, is of the Same Opinion Still.
Her painting Faith (later named A Bruges Market Place) was included in the 1905 book Women Painters of the World.
Reid's painting Fieldworkers, 1883 (Fleming-Wyfold Foundation) was included in the Modern Scottish Women: Painters and Sculptors 1885-1965 exhibition at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art in 2016.
International reputation
Reid travelled and lived in Norway, France and Belgium, and was in 1900 awarded a gold medal at the Exposition Universelle (1900) in Paris.
The public source identifies “Flora Macdonald Reid” as british painter (1861–1938). This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Flora, Macdonald and Reid.
Why this record matters
A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Flora Macdonald Reid”, the useful work is to connect “british painter (1861–1938)” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.
The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Mar 11, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q19463778. VIAF identifies the subject as 95682667. None of the 2 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1860, 1938, 1881 and 1900.
A concise general-reference account can conceal disagreements about scope, terminology or the weight assigned to individual sources. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Flora Macdonald Reid”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Flora Macdonald Reid primary sources, Flora Macdonald Reid archive and Flora research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Flora Macdonald Reid”?
- Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
- Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Flora Macdonald Reid” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.