Peter Denny (1821–1895), 1868Janet Hamilton Campbell Conversation Pictures – children of Colin Campbell of Colgrain and Camis Eskan by Daniel Macnee, 1845Macnee's large house at 6 Learmonth Terrace, EdinburghThe grave of Daniel Macnee, Dean Cemetery
He studied in Edinburgh at the Trustees' Academy, where he supported himself by illustrating publications for William Home Lizars the engraver. Moving to Glasgow, he established himself as a fashionable portrait painter. In 1829 he was admitted as a member of the Royal Scottish Academy. He does not appear as an independent property owner until 1840 when he is listed as a portrait painter living at 126 West Regent Street in Glasgow.[4]
On the death of Sir George Harvey in 1876 he was elected President of the Royal Scottish Academy. From then until his death he remained in Edinburgh, where, according to the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica, "his genial social qualities and his inimitable powers as a teller of humorous Scottish anecdotes rendered him popular".[3] He lived at 6 Learmonth Terrace in Edinburgh's fashionable West End.[5]
Macnee is buried in Dean Cemetery in western Edinburgh with his wife Mary Buchanan, and children, Constance and Thomas Wiseman Macnee. They lie against the north wall of the northern extension.
He was first married to Margaret (1810–1847) by whom he had at least seven children, including Horace Macnee CE. She is buried in Glasgow Necropolis.[7]
He was married (c.1850), secondly, to Mary Buchanan Macnee (1834–1931), 28 years his junior.
His daughter Isabella Wiseman was the subject of his masterpiece "Lady in Grey" (1859), which is held in the National Gallery of Scotland.[8]
^Bryan, Michael; Williamson, George C. (1904). "Macnee, Daniel, Sir". Bryan's dictionary of painters and engravers. Vol. 3, H–M. NY: Macmillan. p. 266.
One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Macnee, Sir Daniel". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 17 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 265.
Media related to Daniel Macnee at Wikimedia Commons
