"GRANT, FRANCIS, B.A., the fashionable portrait painter, is a younger son of Francis Grant, the laird of Kilgraston, and was born about the beginning of the present century. Sir Walter Scott, who took a warm interest in young Grant, has left in his Diary (March 26, 1831) the following account of him :—" In youth be was passionately fond of fox-hunting and other sports; he had also a strong passion for painting, and made a little collection. As he had sense enough to feel that a younger brother's fortune would not lest long under the ex penses of a good stud and a rare collection of chefs d'oeuvre, ho used to avow his intention to spend his patrimony, about £10,000, and then again to make his fortune by the law. The first he soon accomplished. But the law is not a profession so easily acquired, nor did Frank's talent lie in that direction. His passion for painting turned out better In the meantime Frank saw the necessity of doing thing to keep himself independent, having too much spirit to become a 'Jock the laird's brither,' drinking out the last glass of the bottle, riding the horses which the laird wishes to sell, and drawing sketches to amuse the lady and the children. He was above all this, and honourably resolved to cultivate his taste for painting, and become a professional artist. I am no judge of painting, but I am conscious that Francis Grant possesses, with much cleverness, a sense of beauty derived from the best source, that is, the observation of really good society. . . . His former acquaintances render his immediate entrance into business completely secure. He has I think that degree of force of character which will make him keep and enlarge any reputation which he may acquire. Ho has confidence, too, in his own powers, always requisite for a young gentleman trying things of this sort, whose aristocratic pretensions must be envied." Sir Walter's antici pations have been fully verified. Mr. Grant's aristocratic connections —enlarged by his marriage with a uicce of the Duke of Rutlaud introduced him at once into an ample and lucrative business, and his popularity with the fashionable world has always been maintained.
Probably no living portrait painter has painted anything like so large a number of members of the higher classes of both sexes ; and his sitters have included the Elite of the political as well as the fashion able world. Sir Walter Scott suggested the secret of his success (apart from aristocratic connection) in speaking of his "sense of beauty " derived from " the observation of really good society." All his portraits have a "good-society" air. His men, if not manly, are gentlemanly, his women, if not handsome, are elegant : and if neither sex is distinguished by an intellectual, both are by a nonchalant expression. Ile is eminently the painter of the " really good-socicty " classes, and he has caught to perfection their easy, listless airs and attitudes. Probably, if his faces seldom wear any marked appearance of intelligence, it is not the painter's fault. The technical qualities of Mr. Grant's pictures are not of a high order. The drawing is com monly negligent, the composition commonplace, and the colouring meagre, cold, and pour. Mnuy of his portraits are painted on canvass of the largest size, and of course with increase of size the evidences of imperfect artistic education and neglect of study are increasingly manifest.
In the early part of hie career Mr. Grant used to paint sporting compositions, embracing the portraits of a number of horses as well as men, such as the Meet of the Queen's Stag-hounds," Shooting Party at Renton Abbey, the Earl of Lichfield's ; " Sir Richard Sutton's Houuds ;' the Melton Hunt,' ese., some of which were engraved and enjoyed considerable popularity among sporting man, but he has for many years ceased to practis4 this branch of art. Mr. Grant was elected A.R.A. in 1842—the year following the exhibition of his equestrian portrait of her Majesty—and RA. in 1851.