Robert Johnson (1770 – 26 October 1796) was a British artist, an apprentice of Thomas Bewick in his Newcastle upon Tyne workshop.
[1] Bewick taught him wood-engraving, but discovered Johnson's talent for sketching in watercolour directly from nature.
[2] Born at Shotley Bridge, near Ovingham, Northumberland, he was son of a joiner and carpenter, who shortly afterwards removed to Gateshead.
[3] Johnson was employed by Messrs. Morison of Perth to copy the portraits by George Jamesone at Taymouth Castle, the seat of the Earl of Breadalbane, for reproduction in John Pinkerton's Iconographia Scotica.
Two drawings by him were engraved by Charles Warren, as illustrations to John Gay's Fables and Ossian's Poems.