Page:A biographical dictionary of eminent Scotsmen, vol 7.djvu/77

Rh turned to his native country, with powers considerably increased, while his taste, formerly over-luxuriant and wild, had experienced a corresponding improvement. Just at that time a vacancy had occurred in the mastership of a public institution, called the Trustees' academy; and the place, to which was attached a salary of £120, was offered to and accepted by Runciman. Being thus secured in the means of bare subsistence, he applied his vacant time to historical painting, and produced a considerable number of specimens, which, though not destitute of faults, were regarded with much favour, not only in his native country, where native talent of this kind was a novelty, but also in England, where several of them were exhibited. Among the productions of Runciman may be mentioned, Macbeth and Banquo, in a landscape; a Friar, in a landscape; Job in Distress; Samson strangling the Lion ; Figure of Hope; St Margaret landing in Scotland, and her Marriage to Malcolm Canmore in Dunfermline abbey; Christ talking to the Woman of Samaria; Agrippina landing with the Ashes of Germanicus; the Princess Nausica surprised by Ulysses; Andromeda; Sigismunda weeping over the Heart of Tancred; the Ascension (in the Cowgate episcopal chapel, Edinburgh); the Prodigal Son (for which Ferguson the poet was the study); and the paintings in Ossian's Hall at Pennycuik. The work last mentioned was the chef d'œuvre of Runciman, and is allowed to be one of no small merit, though not exempt from his usual faults. The design was his own, but was only carried into effect through the liberality of Sir John Clerk of Pennycuik, the representative of a family which has been remarkable throughout a century for talent, enlightened views, and patronage of men of genius. The principal paintings are twelve in number, referring to the most striking passages in the work called Ossian's Poems. The task was one of no small magnitude, but the painter dreamt of rivalling the famed Sistine Chapel, and laboured at his work with only too much enthusiasm. In consequence of having to paint so much in a recumbent posture, and perhaps denying himself that exercise which the physical pewers demand, he contracted a malady which carried him slowly to the grave. He died, October 21, 1785, dropping down suddenly on the street, when about to enter his lodgings.

Runciman was remarkable for candour and simplicity of manners, and possessed a happy talent for conversation, which caused his company to be courted by some of the most eminent literary men of his time. Hume, Robertson, Kames, and Monboddo, were among the number of his frequent visitors. But his real worth and goodness of heart were best known to his most intimate friends, who had access to him at all times. Nor was he less remarkable for his readiness in communicating information and advice to young artists, in order to further their improvement in the arts. His pupil, John Brown, has passed the following judgment upon his merits as a painter: "His fancy was fertile, his discernment of character keen, his taste truly elegant, and his conceptions always great. Though his genius seems to be best suited to the grand and serious, yet many of his works amply prove that he could move with equal success in the less elevated line of the gay and the pleasing. His chief excellence was composition, the noblest part of the art, in which it is doubtful whether he had any living superior. With regard to the truth, the harmony, the richness, and the gravity of colouring, in that style, in short, which is the peculiar characteristic of the ancient Venetian, and the direct contrast of the modern English school, he was unrivalled. His works, it must be granted, like all those of the present times, were far from being perfect; but it was Runciman's peculiar misfortune., that his defects were of such a nature as to be obvious to the most unskilful eye ; whilst his beauties were of a kind, which