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Having made some study of the language, he visited Tartary and Turkey, sketching the costume and studying the manners of the Cossacks, Circassians, and Tartars. He sent home to the Academy Exhibition of 1809, 'Russian Peasants keeping Holiday,' but his picture did not receive much notice, and, disappointed, he did not exhibit again for several years. In 1812 he had made up his mind to return, but Napoleon's great campaign, the horrors of which he witnessed, prevented him, and he did not reach Scotland till 1814. Then, settling in Edinburgh, he sent to the Academy in London the following spring his 'Circassian Captives,' and in 1816 a work of the same class, 'The Sale of Two Boys by a Chief of the Black Sea,' an incident he had witnessed; and in 1817 another Circassian subject. But these works were unsold, and he was disappointed beyond hope. He was, however, befriended by Sir Walter Scott, who got up a lottery for the sale of his 'Circassian Captives,' and induced him to remain in Edinburgh. Here he painted 'Tartar Robbers dividing their Spoil,' and then tried another class of subjects, 'The Press Gang,' 'The Parting between Prince Charles Stuart and Flora Macdonald,' 'Jeannie Deans and her Father;' yet these works did not justify the expectations he had raised among his friends. He again desponded, Sir Walter came once more to his help, encouraged him to paint a sketch he had made of the 'Murder of Archbishop Sharpe,' and found a purchaser for it when finished. With renewed hope he then painted 'John Knox reproving Mary, Queen of Scots,' which was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1823, followed by 'Ruthven forcing Mary to sign her Abdication,' and 'The Regent Murray shot by Hamilton of Bothwellhaugh,' which last was purchased by the Duke of Bedford for 800 guineas, and gained the artist the distinction of Associate of the Royal Academy in 1825. In 1826 he was appointed master of the Trustees' School, Edinburgh, an office he held till only a few years before his death.

Though he did not want energy, and persevered in his work without flagging, he scarcely maintained the reputation he lad gained, and his labours and anxieties began to tell upon him. He was attacked by a complaint which threatened blindness, and was compelled to take rest. He went to Italy, and after spending a winter at Rome journeyed on to Naples, and from thence to Constantinople, Asia Minor, and Greece. In 1830 he returned to Edinburgh, restored to health, and was successful in a small portrait work of 'Sir Walter Scott in his Study,' now in the National Portrait Gallery, which became a favourite, and was well engraved by Burnet; as also in a companion picture, exhibited in 1833 under the title of 'The Orphan,' representing Ann Scott on the floor, close to her father's vacant chair in his studio at Abbotsford, which was purchased by Queen Adelaide. In 1834 he again travelled, visiting Spain, and subsequently France and Belgium. On his return in 1835 he was elected a royal academician, and in 1838 the president of the Royal Scottish Academy. In 1841 he succeeded to the office of limner to the Queen in Scotland, which was accompanied, as had been usual, by knighthood.

He had returned to his Siberian subjects, and exhibited yearly at the Academy, when in 1843 he completed a work he had long contemplated, 'The Battle of Waterloo from the French side.' This was admired by the Duke of Wellington, who became its purchaser. His last great completed work was a second picture of this battle from the English side. It was painted in competition for the decorations of the palace at Westminster in 1846, but was unsuccessful, and he had the further disappointment that it remained unsold. He had always retained a pleasant recollection of the kindness of his friends in St. Petersburg, and in 1844 he revisited that capital, and painted for the emperor 'Peter the Great teaching his Subjects the Art of Ship-building.' The effects of hard travel and a life of hard labour and anxiety now began to tell upon him. He suffered from bronchitis, and had been for some time at work upon a large canvas on 'The Battle of Bannockburn.' His weakness increased, but he did not relax, and removing his bed to his painting-room he continued his work; and here, with his unfinished picture before him, he died in Edinburgh, February 23, 1850. His picture has found an appropriate place in the National Gallery of Scotland, and he will not fail to be remembered among the painters of his country. He represented the costumes and characters of countries then little known, and connected them with kindred subjects of great interest, and painted many subjects and incidents with equal success from the history of his own country. His stories were well told and well composed, his choice of subjects good; but his pictures were wanting in power, and were crude and weak in colour. His merit 7