BY LAWRENCE MACDONALD, ROME, DATED 1855

Born in 1799 in Perthshire, Lawrence Macdonald studied under the local mason, Thomas Gibson, before entering the Trustee's Academy in Edinburgh in 1822. In the same year, the artist migrated to Rome and became one of the founding members of The British Academy of Arts and was later fêted by the 1851 Literary Gazette as 'one of the most distinguished ornaments of the British School of Sculpture'. Celebrated as one of the most popular portraitists of his time, Macdonald's numerous patrons included Osborne House, Windsor Castle and the National Portrait Gallery.