He attended art school in the evenings, then later became a student at the Trustees Academy and attracted the patronage of its owner, Patrick Allan Fraser, who gave him commissions to fund his study in Rome.

"[1] Hutchison died on 23 May 1910 in Edinburgh after a week's illness,[4][5] and is buried in Grange Cemetery, in the northern half of its SE section, alongside his wife Margaret.

However his apprenticeship from age thirteen as a wood carver was served in a workshop on the top floor of a tenement (since demolished) on Edinburgh High Street near John Knox's Corner.

[8] As an apprentice he also took evening classes in decorative and modelling,[9] before studying in the Antique and Life department under Robert Scott Lauder at the Trustees Academy, Edinburgh, from 1848.

[1] He joined its Sketching Club, and studied alongside George Paul Chalmers, John MacWhirter and William Quiller Orchardson.

[4][5] He associated there with artists Pietro Tenerani, Giovanni Dupré, Hiram Powers, John Gibson, and Lawrence Macdonald.

[15][16] He acted as Librarian to the RSA from 1877 to 1886, and one of his early tasks was to arrange and classify the collection of prints bequeathed by David Laing.

[5] Hutchison was involved in an early usage of tintype photographs in the Courts, used to prove the death of the late Earl of Aberdeen and to allow for his brother to succeed the title.

(1859),[nb 1] the Coleridge character Genevieve (1859) and the "colossal bust" of Harald Hardrada (1859) for Lord Dufferin's Clandeboye Estate.

[4] By 1860, Hutchison had trained in Rome, and in October of that year was appointed teacher of ornamental modelling at the Watt Institution and School of Arts.

He exhibited a Bust of Lawrence Macdonald Esq., HRSA, Sculptor (1860), and of Robert Scott Lauder RSA (1859),[nb 2][1] both now in the Scottish National Portrait Gallery.

The Scotsman was "delighted to observed the excellence of the likeness generally, and the success with which the sculptor has conveyed the mingled expression of firmness and sagacity so characteristic of the original.

"[21] The Dundee Courier declared that "the composition, plain and unsophisticated, devoid of all ornament, is in harmony with and fitly symbolises the life-long character of the original.

His Tablet to Dr William Glover (1871) is at Greenside Church, Royal Terrace, and his Monument to David Allan (1874) is in Old Calton Burial Ground.

[4] In 1874 he produced The Glee Maiden from the Fair Maid of Perth, Katie, daughter of John MacLaren, Esq., Advocate, Sheriff in Chancery, and James Salmon, Esq., Architect, Glasgow, while still perhaps preparing for the 1877 bronze, with The late Adam Black, Esq.

In 1877 he was free to execute The late George Dalziel, Esq., John Clerk Brodie, Esq., and the 17-foot centennial monument to James Carmichael, engineer & inventor of the fan blast, unveiled in Albert Square, Dundee on 17 June.

George R. Davidson, DD, and The late William Jenkyns, MA, killed in defence of the British Residency, Cabul.

In 1882 he contributed three or four stone figures to the Scott Monument on Princes Street including Baron Bradwardine, The Glee Maiden and Flora MacIvor,[2] plus "eight heads in relief for the relic room.

"[1][nb 5] Four busts followed this: Sir James Falshaw (1871) exhibited again, Lord Provost of Edinburgh (1882), Charles Wyville Thomson (1883), in the Playfair Library, Edinburgh University, William Robertson (1883) at Greyfriars Kirk and William Lindsay Alexander (1885) in Augustine Congregational Church, George IV Bridge.

[4] In 1881, Hutchison exhibited King Robert the Bruce, and in 1882 The Late William Rutherford Sanders, Professor of Pathology, Edinburgh University.

In 1893 he carved figures on the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, including John Knox on the west side of the building.

At the RSA Exhibition in 1890 his Grigor was the most conspicuous piece: "an entirely realistic figure in bronze, with pilot-jacket overcoat, with wide-awake hat, as in life.

The private commissions continued throughout 1894, with James Carmichael, Engineer, Dundee,[nb 7] Miss Ethel Campbell Smith, Bust of a Lady and The Regent Murray.

His life must have become more interesting in 1895, because some projects had scope for invention: Agriculture, Engineering, and Study for a Head of a Colossal Statue.

In 1902 he again showed Bust of lady and Study of a Roman Girl, along with the new work James Grahame, Marquis of Montrose.

The full-sized Tinto clay model, for the mould in which to cast this "massive" bronze, took eight months of "arduous labour" to complete by the evening of Friday 14 July; a hot night of 90 degrees Fahrenheit.

The Scotsman reported:[33] "It was found a hideous ruin, great masses of clay having fallen away so as to expose the wooden framework on which the model had been built.

He was charged and sentenced to three months in the Edinburgh Sheriff Criminal Court for breaking a window and desk lock on 11 June and stealing a watch, ring and £4 10s from Hutchison's studio.

[8] Many years later, after Hutchison had died, The Scotsman told this story: "One day, after the sitting, the Queen stood by the clay model as it was nearing completion, and gave her kindly criticism upon it.

The sculptor took care that the mark Queen Victoria had left on her own bust was not effaced, and that it was duly carved in the more enduring marble.