Elizabeth "Bessie" MacNicol (1869–1904) was a Scottish painter and member of the Glasgow Girls* group of artists affiliated with the Glasgow School of Art*.

MacNicol was born in Glasgow, Scotland, on 5 July 1869, the daughter of Peter MacNicol, a teacher and school principal, and Mary Ann Matthews. Several of her siblings died in infancy (including her twin sister Mary), but she grew up with two surviving sisters with whom she shared a penchant for music. She had some health problems consequent on suffering from allergies during the summer months. She attended Glasgow School of Art from 1887 until 1892 and afterwards, at the urging of school director Francis Henry Newbery, studied art in Paris at the Académie Colarossi*, which was o...