Kenneth Macleay the younger (4 July 1802 – 3 November 1878) was a Scottish
miniature painter. He was the son of
Kenneth Macleay the elder
Kenneth Macleay the elder (fl. 1819) was a Scottish antiquarian.
Biography
Macleay practised as a physician in Glasgow
Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous cit ...
.
Biography
Macleay was born at
Oban
Oban ( ; ' in Scottish Gaelic meaning ''The Little Bay'') is a resort town within the Argyll and Bute council area of Scotland. Despite its small size, it is the largest town between Helensburgh and Fort William. During the tourist season, th ...
on 4 July 1802. He was the son of
Dr. Kenneth Macleay; his mother belonged to the Macdonald family of Keppoch, Inverness-shire. His early years were spent at Crieff. At the age of eighteen, he came to
Edinburgh; and on 26 February 1822 entered the
Trustees' Academy
Edinburgh College of Art (ECA) is one of eleven schools in the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Edinburgh. Tracing its history back to 1760, it provides higher education in art and design, architecture, histor ...
(minute-book of the board of trustees). He soon attained repute as a miniature-painter, and was one of the original members of the
Royal Scottish Academy
The Royal Scottish Academy (RSA) is the country’s national academy of art. It promotes contemporary Scottish art.
The Academy was founded in 1826 by eleven artists meeting in Edinburgh. Originally named the Scottish Academy, it became the ...
founded in 1826. At first he worked on ivory, afterwards in water-colours on paper. His bust portraits and small full-lengths are distinguished by exquisite beauty of touch and fine colouring. Among his earlier works was a small full-length of
Helen Faucit
Helena Saville Faucit, Lady Martin (11 October 1817 – 31 October 1898) was an English actress.
Early life
Born in London, she was the daughter of actors John Saville Faucit and Harriet Elizabeth Savill. Her parents separated when she was a g ...
, which attracted much attention and has been lithographed. He executed for the queen a series of full-length figures illustrative of the costumes of the highland clans, including portraits of the prince consort, the Duke of Edinburgh, and several members of the royal household at Balmoral. A selection of these were lithographed, hand-coloured, and published in two volumes in 1870, under the title of 'Highlanders of Scotland,' When the progress of photography reduced the popular demand for miniatures, Macleay turned his attention to oil-painting, and produced a few genre pictures of highland subjects and many landscapes. These are very hard and minute in handling, and greatly inferior to his earlier water-colour portraits. He married a daughter of Sir A. Campbell of Aldenglass. He died in Edinburgh on 3 November 1878.
Gallery
File:Jane Baillie Welsh, Mrs Thomas Carlyle, 1801 - 1866. Wife of the historian Thomas Carlyle.jpg, Jane Carlyle
File:Portrait of John Neil Dyce.jpg, John Neil Dyce
File:Portraits of Elizabeth Hamilton Bowie.jpg, Elizabeth Hamilton Bowie
File:Kenneth Macleay - Portrait of John Francis Miller Erskine, Earl of Mar and Earl of Kellie - 2013.34 - Cleveland Museum of Art.jpg, John Francis Miller Erskine
File:Donald Munro, Archibald MacDougall and Lachlan MacLean by Kenneth MacLeay.jpg, Donald Munro, Archibald MacDougall and Lachlan MacLean
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Macleay, Kenneth
19th-century Scottish painters
People from Oban
British portrait miniaturists
1802 births
1878 deaths
Alumni of the Trustees' Academy
Alumni of the Royal Scottish Academy