Robert Walker (minister)

His father became minister of the Scots Church in Rotterdam in 1760, and it is likely that Walker learned to skate on frozen canals in the Netherlands.

He was granted a licence to preach by the Presbytery of Edinburgh on 24 April 1770, shortly before his 15th birthday (some sources[1] give his year of birth as 1746 which would put him at 24, a more normal age for ordination).

He moved to become senior minister at Canongate Kirk in Edinburgh on 19 August 1784, a parish that includes the Palace of Holyroodhouse, bringing him to the centre of the Scottish establishment.

Raeburn was appointed as one of the nine trustees of his will, along with Charles Hamilton, 8th Earl of Haddington, and Walker's publisher, William Creech.

Having failed to sell the painting at auction in 1914, Walker's great-granddaughter, Beatrix Scott, sold The Skating Minister privately in 1926.