Lot 28: Kenneth Macleay, R.S.A. , 1802-1878 portrait of a gentleman holding a telescope pencil and watercolour

signed and dated l.l.: K. Mcleay R.S.A./ 1840 pencil and watercolour

measurements note 26 by 22 cm.; 10 ¼ by 8 ¾ in.

Kenneth McLeay was a Scottish painter of genre subjects and portraiture. In 1822 he began his art training, as many of his contemporary countrymen did, at the Trustees Academy in Edinburgh. Following his graduation, he established a reputation as a portrait painter, working at first as a painter of miniatures although he soon saw the benefit of painting on a larger scale to rival the competition posed by the advances in portrait photography. He was made an Associate of the Royal Scottish Academy in 1826 when he was only twenty-four, but resigned soon afterwards and was re-elected in 1829. One of his most acclaimed undertakings was to produce a series of watercolour drawings of figures in Highland costume for Queen Victoria, which were published in 1870.