John Graham (Scottish painter)

Duncan Thomson, in his article in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, paraphrases Joseph Farington, who told Thomas Lawrence, that "Graham was a candidate he would certainly not vote for, in what he considered a very weak field.

Through the influence of the banker Sir William Forbes, Graham acquired the position of "public Teacher of Art" in Edinburgh in 1798.

The painter Benjamin West, who had called Graham "an ingenious man", "felt he was ideally suited for the position.

Concerned that he was "perceived only as a teacher of artists sponsored by the board", Graham took on several private students, girls at one time of the day and boys at another.

[2] Graham painted portraits, including one of the actress Tryphosa Jane Wallis,[4] and Alderman John Boydell.