John Brown (c.1749 – 1787)

• Was a Scottish artist.
• John Brown was born in Edinburgh, Scotland.

• The son of a watchmaker.

• He studied in Edinburgh at the Trustees' Academy.

• Around 1769 he traveled to Rome, where he became a pupil of Alexander Runciman.

• They became strong friends. 

• For the next eleven years he lived in Rome.

• In Italy and Sicily he made sketches of the ruins of ancient buildings for his Scottish patrons, William Townley and Sir William Young, and sent drawings to the Royal Academy. 

• Brown worked on a small scale and favoured pencil, pen and wash as his media.

• In 1780 Brown returned to Scotland, and drew many portraits of dignitaries, including twenty-five portraits of members of the Society of Scottish Antiquaries. 

• Among his drawings are a number of genre scenes, such as Two Men in Conversation (c. 1775–80), which show the influence of Henry Fuseli, with whom Brown was friendly.

• He lived in London in 1786–87, and exhibited miniature portraits.

• He returned to Scotland in ill health and died at Leith, Edinburgh's harbour area, in 1787. 

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