Page:A biographical dictionary of eminent Scotsmen, vol 8.djvu/265

Rh Allan, for his preceptor. His progress was commensurate with his talents and his opportunities, for he not only rapidly mastered the rules of art, and acquired artistic skill in delineation, but soon outstripped his class-fellows in that most difficult and delicate of all departments, the drawing of the human frame. At the age of twenty he had entered the academy as a pupil, and as if even already, conscious that his life was to be a brief one, he had considerably abbreviated by his diligence the usual term of probation, and become a full-grown artist. This was perceptible even in the first paintings which he produced to public notice; and the "Milkmaid," "Old Mortality," and the "Braw Wooer," which he successively produced, were so highly appreciated by the best judges of pictorial excellence, that although under the usual age of those who had hitherto held such important offices, he was first appointed to the professorship of colouring, and soon afterwards to that of drawing, in the Edinburgh Academy.

Having thus won for himself such high distinction, Mr. Duncan was resolved that it should not be merely local or temporary: he loved art for its own sake, not its emoluments, and longed to paint for immortality, rather than the easily-won celebrity of the passing day. For this purpose he turned his attention to the Royal Academy, and sent thither, in 1840, his elaborate and well-known painting of "Prince Charles Edward and the Highlanders entering Edinburgh after the battle of Prestonpans," a truly national production, the value of which was enhanced to the present generation of Scotchmen by the portraits of several eminent living characters whom he has introduced into the scene. In this great European exhibition of artistic merit and contention, he had a more formidable ordeal to pass than the limited one of Edinburgh; but he triumphantly went through it, and the historical painting of the young Scottish artist was spoken of in terms of the highest commendation. This he successfully followed, in 1841, by his picture of the "Waefu' Heart," a scene from the beautiful ballad of "Auld Robin Gray," in which it is enough to say, that the conception of the painter does not fall short of that of the poet; in 1842, by the picture of "Deer-Stalking;" and in 1843, by "Charles Edward asleep after the battle of Culloden, protected by Flora Macdonald." By this time his reputation was so well established that, in the same year, he was elected an associate of the Royal Academy. In 1844 Mr. Duncan sent to the Exhibition his ideal painting of "Cupid," and his historical one of "The Martyrdom of John Brown, of Priesthill, in 1685." These were his principal productions, which are now widely known to the world through the medium of admirable engravings; and to the list might be added his admirable portraits of several eminent Scottish contemporaries, whose features he has perpetuated with a felicity that has been universally acknowledged.

Such was the artistic career of Thomas Duncan, that was now brought to a premature close. His constitution had always appeared a sound one, giving promise of a long and healthy life; but an internal tumour had gradually been forming in his head, near the optic nerves, which at last nearly reduced him to a state of blindness. By skilful medical treatment the malady was almost entirely removed, when it fixed itself upon the brain, producing all the appearances of brain fever, under which he sank, notwithstanding the efforts of the best medical practitioners of Edinburgh, to whom he was justly endeared by his amiable character, as well as high talents and reputation. His death occurred on the 30th of April, 1845, at the age of thirty-eight; and he was survived by a widow and six children, who were not left unprovided; for Duncan, by his