Robert Ronald McIan (1803 – 13 Dec 1856), also Robert Ranald McIan, was an actor and painter of Scottish descent. He is best known for romanticised

Romanticism

Romanticism was an artistic, literary and intellectual movement that originated in the second half of the 18th century in Europe, and gained strength in reaction to the Industrial Revolution...

 depictions of Scottish clan

Scottish clan

Scottish clans , give a sense of identity and shared descent to people in Scotland and to their relations throughout the world, with a formal structure of Clan Chiefs recognised by the court of the Lord Lyon, King of Arms which acts as an authority concerning matters of heraldry and Coat of Arms...

smen, their battles and domestic life.

His wife, Fanny McIan, was a painter and early teacher of art to women.

Acting

McIan was born in Scotland, in 1803. He became an actor with the joint company of the Theatre Royals in Bristol

Bristol Old Vic

The Bristol Old Vic is a theatre company based at the Theatre Royal, King Street, in Bristol, England. The theatre complex includes the 1766 Theatre Royal, which claims to be the oldest continually-operating theatre in England, along with a 1970s studio theatre , offices and backstage facilities...

 and Bath

Theatre Royal, Bath

The Theatre Royal in Bath, England, is over 200 years old. It is one of the more important theatres in the United Kingdom outside London, with capacity for an audience of around 900....

 before making his way to London. In 1838 he played at the Covent Garden Theatre and at Drury Lane

Theatre Royal, Drury Lane

The Theatre Royal, Drury Lane is a West End theatre in Covent Garden, in the City of Westminster, a borough of London. The building faces Catherine Street and backs onto Drury Lane. The building standing today is the most recent in a line of four theatres at the same location dating back to 1663,...

 in the following year. He gained a reputation for playing Highlanders on the stage, at a time when the novels of Sir Walter Scott

Walter Scott

Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet was a Scottish historical novelist, playwright, and poet, popular throughout much of the world during his time....

 had revived interest in Highland culture.

It's not clear when he gave up the stage to devote himself to painting. He played the jester in the Eglinton Tournament of 1839

Eglinton Tournament of 1839

The Eglinton Tournament of 1839 was a re-enactment of a medieval joust and revel held in Scotland on Friday 30 August.It was funded and organized by Archibald Montgomerie, 13th Earl of Eglinton, and took place at Eglinton Castle, near Kilwinning in Scotland...

 and the 1885 DNB

Dictionary of National Biography

The Dictionary of National Biography is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published from 1885...

 says he retired in that year. A letter from Charles Dickens

Charles Dickens

Charles John Huffam Dickens was an English novelist, generally considered the greatest of the Victorian period. Dickens enjoyed a wider popularity and fame than had any previous author during his lifetime, and he remains popular, having been responsible for some of English literature's most iconic...

 mentions seeing McIan perform on 23 June 1841, not long before McIan's wife started a steady job as a teacher.

Personal life

WP Frith described McIan as "a Highlander and fierce Jacobite

Jacobitism

Jacobitism was the political movement in Britain dedicated to the restoration of the Stuart kings to the thrones of England, Scotland, later the Kingdom of Great Britain, and the Kingdom of Ireland...

", Henry Vizetelly

Henry Vizetelly

Henry Richard Vizetelly was an English publisher, the son of a printer. He was early apprenticed as a wood engraver, and one of his first blocks was a portrait of Old Parr....

 wrote that he "was generally voted an intolerable bore".

McIan eloped with and married Frances (Fanny) Whitaker (c.1814–1897), daughter of a Bath cabinet maker. A friend described them as "The painter and his painter-wife – two who went hand in hand, and heart with heart, together through the world".

Mrs McIan was a noted painter in her own right, who exhibited at the Royal Academy

Royal Academy

The Royal Academy of Arts is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly, London. The Royal Academy of Arts has a unique position in being an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects whose purpose is to promote the creation, enjoyment and...

 and other leading galleries. She too favoured historical subjects from the Highlands, such as Highlander defending his Family at the Massacre of Glencoe

Massacre of Glencoe

Early in the morning of 13 February 1692, in the aftermath of the Glorious Revolution and the Jacobite uprising of 1689 led by John Graham of Claverhouse, an infamous massacre took place in Glen Coe, in the Highlands of Scotland. This incident is referred to as the Massacre of Glencoe, or in...

. The Highlander in question would have been a MacDonald of Glencoe, also known as Clan McIan. From 1842 until Robert's death she was the first Superindent of the Female School of Design (which became the Royal Female School of Art and ultimately part of the Central School of Art and Design).

They moved to 9 Great Coram Street in 1843 and 36 Charlotte Street

Charlotte Street

Charlotte Street is a well-known street in Fitzrovia, central London, England. The southern half of the street has many restaurants and cafes, and a lively nightlife during the evening; while the northern part of the street is more mixed in character and includes the large office building of the...

 in 1849.

Painting

McIan learnt to paint whilst he was an actor, and submitted his first landscape to the Royal Academy

Royal Academy

The Royal Academy of Arts is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly, London. The Royal Academy of Arts has a unique position in being an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects whose purpose is to promote the creation, enjoyment and...

 in 1836. He exhibited in the Suffolk Street Gallery in 1835 and 1837 whilst acting at the newly rebuilt English Opera House. His 1838 portrait of novelist Anna Maria Hall

Anna Maria Hall

Anna Maria Hall was an Irish novelist who often published as "Mrs. S.C. Hall".She was born Anna Maria Fielding in Dublin, but left Ireland at the age of 15...

 (Mrs S.C. Hall

Samuel Carter Hall

Samuel Carter Hall was an Irish-born Victorian journalist who is best known for his editorship of The Art Journal and for his much-satirised personality.-Early years:Hall was born at the Geneva Barracks in Waterford...

) was praised by Camilla Toulmin.

He is perhaps best known for his illustrations in The Clans of The Scottish Highlands, published in 1845 on the centenary of the Jacobite Rising

Jacobite Rising of 1745

The Jacobite rising of 1745, often referred to as "The 'Forty-Five," was the attempt by Charles Edward Stuart to regain the British throne for the exiled House of Stuart. The rising occurred during the War of the Austrian Succession when most of the British Army was on the European continent...

 with text by James Logan. It proved so popular that it was reissued in 1857, after his death. His depictions of clansmen fanned the romantic revival of interest in Gaeldom

Gaeldom

The term Gaeldom refers to areas in which the Gaelic languages, namely Irish, Manx, and Scottish Gaelic, are spoken.The word may specifically refer to:*An Ghaeltacht, Irish speaking parts of Ireland...

 that was led by Queen Victoria, to whom the book was dedicated.

McIan's early paintings concentrated on scenes from domestic life in the Highlands, such as illicit whisky

Scotch whisky

Scotch whisky is whisky made in Scotland.Scotch whisky is divided into five distinct categories: Single Malt Scotch Whisky, Single Grain Scotch Whisky, Blended Malt Scotch Whisky , Blended Grain Scotch Whisky, and Blended Scotch Whisky.All Scotch whisky must be aged in oak barrels for at least three...

 stills and women grinding corn. These culminated in the 1848 sequel to the Clans book, entitled Gaelic Gatherings: Or The Highlanders at Home, on the Heath, the River and the Loch.

In later life his works increasingly took on overtly nationalistic subjects, celebrating the exploits of Highland soldiers against the English and overseas. Paintings of the 79th Cameron Highlanders

Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders

The Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders was an infantry regiment of the British Army formed in 1793. In 1961 it was merged with the Seaforth Highlanders to form the Queen's Own Highlanders...

 were commissioned by Colonel Lauderdale Maule

Lauderdale Maule

Lauderdale Maule, DL was a Scottish soldier, the second son of the Lord Panmure.Born at Brechin Castle, he entered the 39th Regiment of Foot as an ensign on 24 August 1825. In 1835, he was promoted to captain in the 95th Regiment of Foot, and transferred into the 79th Regiment of Foot on 21 August...

 to celebrate the end of his ten-year colonelcy of the regiment in December 1852. An Incident in the Revolutionary War of America showed the 71st Fraser Highlanders' heroic defence at the Battle of Stono Ferry

Battle of Stono Ferry

The Battle of Stono Ferry was an American Revolutionary War battle, fought on June 20, 1779, near Charleston, South Carolina. The rear guard from a British expedition retreating from an aborted attempt to take Charleston held off an assault by poorly-trained militia forces under American General...

 and was exhibited at the Royal Scottish Academy in 1854.

McIan was elected an associate of the Royal Scottish Academy

Royal Scottish Academy

The Royal Scottish Academy is a Scottish organisation that promotes contemporary Scottish art. Founded in 1826, as the Royal Institution for the Encouragement of the Fine Arts, the RSA maintains a unique position in Scotland as an independently funded institution led by eminent artists and...

 in 1852 and died at Hampstead

Hampstead

Hampstead is an area of London, England, north-west of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Camden in Inner London, it is known for its intellectual, liberal, artistic, musical and literary associations and for Hampstead Heath, a large, hilly expanse of parkland...

, north London, on 13 December 1856.

External links

• Ambaile.org is a Scottish government site with scans of all the images in the Clans and background on the families. See also the Commons link on the right.
• Archive.org has a poorly OCR'd version of the text of The Clans of The Scottish Highlands. has a list of significant works by both McIans.