James Archer (1823 - 3 Sep 1904) Royal Scotish Academy, was a Scottish painter of portraits, genre works, landscapes and historical scenes. Archer was born in Edinburgh, the son of Andrew Archer, a dentist, and Ann Cunningham, and educated at the Royal High School. He studied at the Trustee's Academy in Edinburgh under Sir William Allan and Thomas Duncan (painter). In 1840 he was accepted as a student at the Royal Scottish Academy and first exhibited there in 1842, with the Biblical painting, The Child St John in the Wilderness. He became an associate of the Academy in 1850, and in 1858 an Academician (RSA)

Archer worked in oils, pencil and chalk, and at the beginning of his career specialized in portraiture, his best-known wo...