Thomas Faed
1826-1900

Thomas Faed was born in Gatehouse-of-fleet. He was a painter of rural (and later urban) life. Trained in Edinburgh he spent most of his life in London where he became one of the most successful painters of his time. Although living in England, his paintings often dealt with Scottish subjects.

Thomas Faed taught himself painting by copying prints of old engravings and then working outdoors. After his father’s death, he went to Edinburgh, to join and study under his elder brother John Faed. He also studied at the Art School Board of Manufacturers, where Sir William Allan was master, and his fellow pupils included W.Q. Orchardson and Erskine Nicol. He became ARSA in 1849 when he was only 23, and in 1852 settled in London. His reputation was established with his early work at the Royal Academy. He followed this with a series of similar scenes of Scottish domestic life, a strongly realist idiom, often choosing the poor, bereaved or otherwise unfortunate as his subjects. Another of his frequent subjects, equally approved of in Victorian society, was the pretty girl. The image above is " The Last of The Clan," depicting the Highland Clearances.

He was elected an Associate of the Royal Academy in 1859 and became a Royal Academician in 1864. He exhibited about 100 works at the Royal Academy between 1851 and 1893.

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