Gavin Hamilton

Scottish portrait and history painter, excavator and dealer in antiquities and old masters; b. Murdieston House, Lanark 1723; d. Rome 1798; educated at Glasgow University 1738-42; in Rome from 1742-48 as a pupil of Agostino Masucci; from 175256 in London as a portrait painter; then returned to Rome 1756; executed series of six poetic scenes of Iliad 1760-75; exh. SA 1762-71 and RA 1770-88 from Rome, where he lived until his death; entrepreneur behind the 'Schola Italica Picturae' of 1773 (of which he sold the plates to Piranesi by 1780); short visit to Scotland 1783; executed ceiling and walls of room in Villa Borghese 1782-84; had most of his pictures engraved by Cunego (plates later passed to Volpato).
His date of birth is given inaccurately in some early publications as 1730.