Duncan, THOMAS, R.S.A., and A.R.A., was born at Kinclaven, Perthshire, May 24, 1807. He studied in the Trustees' Academy, Edinburgh, under Sir William Allan; and was his successor as head-master of that school, and one of the most distinguished members of the Royal Scottish Academy. His portraits, and historical and fancy subjects, evince delicate feeling for female beauty, and keen appreciation of the humorons in Scottish character. His drawing is always careful and correct, and his colouring is especially remarkable for delicacy and richness. Though he exhibited but few pictures in the Royal Academy of London, they at once attracted marked attention, and he was elected an Associate of that body in 1843. The principal works he exhibited there were: 'Anne Page and
Slender; an illustration from the ballad of Auld Robin Gray;' 'Prince Charles's Entry into Edinburgh after the Battle of Prestonpans; and the same Prince, when a fugitive, concealed in a cave. He was engaged on the studies for works, 'Wishart dispensing the Sacrament,' and 'Queen Victoria at Taymouth,' when he was seized with an illness which terminated fatally, 25th May 1845. One of his latest works was a portrait of himself; it is now in the National Gallery of Scotland, along with five other of his productions. Other pictures are 'Lucy Ashtou,' 'Mary, Queen of Scots, signing her Abdication' (1836), and 'The Martyrdom of John Brown of Priesthill.'