Royal Academy of Arts as somewhat anachronistic. But efforts are made to award each prize to a student producing work that bears a relation to the intentions of the original benefactor. The Royal Academy has an important collection of books, archives and works of art accessible for research and display. A large part of these collections have been digitised and can be investigated through the Collection website. The first president of the Royal Academy, Sir Joshua Reynolds, gave his noted self-portrait, beginning the Royal Academy collection. This was followed by gifts from other founding members, such as Gainsborough and Benjamin West. Subsequently each elected
Donald Watson (artist) Donald Watson (artist) Donald Watson (28 June 1918 – 7 November 2005) was a Scottish ornithologist and a wildlife artist. Watson was born at Cranleigh, Surrey. He drew birds as a child and was encouraged in this by the wildlife artist Archibald Thorburn. The family relocated to Edinburgh, and Donald attended Edinburgh Academy. There he met a former pupil, George Waterston, Director of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds in Scotland, and President of the Midlothian Ornithologists' Club, which became the Scottish Ornithologists' Club in 1936. After attending Oxford University and then undergoing war service in India, he