He was the eldest son of John Irvine and was educated at the local parish school.

Irvine was able to gain paid experience by painting the "old retainers" on Mr. Carnegy-Arbuthnott of Balnamoon estate.

Among his portraits were those of James Coull (1786–1880), a survivor of the sea battle that led to the Capture of USS Chesapeake.

Coull had fought at the Battle of Trafalgar and had lost a hand to a musket ball.

[3] Irvine also painted some landscapes and he had begun memorial portraits of the Earl and Countess of Dalhousie when he died of congestion of the lungs at his home in Montrose on the 17 March 1889.