He was the son of Dr. Kenneth Macleay; his mother belonged to the Macdonald family of Keppoch, Inverness-shire.

His bust portraits and small full-lengths are distinguished by exquisite beauty of touch and fine colouring.

Among his earlier works was a small full-length of Helen Faucit, which attracted much attention and has been lithographed.

He executed for the queen a series of full-length figures illustrative of the costumes of the highland clans, including portraits of the prince consort, the Duke of Edinburgh, and several members of the royal household at Balmoral.

A selection of these were lithographed, hand-coloured, and published in two volumes in 1870, under the title of 'Highlanders of Scotland,' When the progress of photography reduced the popular demand for miniatures, Macleay turned his attention to oil-painting, and produced a few genre pictures of highland subjects and many landscapes.