A tanner's son from Edinburgh, Lauder studied at the Trustees' Academy before establishing himself as a portraitist and history painter. His subject matter was taken predominantly from the Bible or the novels of Sir Walter Scott. He was a founding member of the Royal Scottish Academy and exhibited there between 1826 and 1870. In 1852 Lauder was appointed Director of the Trustees' Academy. His pupils included Sir William Orchardson, John Pettie, William McTaggart and Sir George Chalmers. This bust is by another of his pupils and its gift to the RSA in 1862 coincided with Lauder's retirement from active teaching due to a stroke. The RSA Secretary David Octavius Hill acknowledged this gift and the sitter's reputation as an inspiring and much-loved teacher by describing Lauder as 'one who...has exercised much influence on the youthful artists of Scotland'.