David Deuchar was a goldsmith, seal engraver and an amateur etcher. Deuchar was one of the first to have spotted the talent of the future portrait painter, Henry Raeburn, encouraging him to become a painter rather than a jeweller. This unusual portrait presents the sitter as if he were a classical marble bust, rather than a contemporary figure in everyday dress.
John Brown (Scottish, 1749 - 1787)
Edinburgh-born Brown was the son of a jeweller and watchmaker and studied at the Trustees' Academy. He was in Italy from 1771 to 1780, working alongside Alexander Runciman and Henry Fuseli. Although influenced by his friends' romantic reaction to the past, Brown did not produce large narrative paintings, instead, he drew accurate views of Roman antiquities and Italian scenery for his Scottish patrons. When he returned to Britain he specialised in pencil miniature portraits, sittings for which took one hour.
