JOHN HORSBURGH, (Scottish, 1835-1924) Portrait of a Gentleman. 1918. Oil on panel. Signed and dated: J HORSBURGH, EDINB. 18. John Horsburgh was born in Eddleston, Peeblesshire. He was apprenticed to a silk haberdashery in Edinburgh, but his interest soon turned to photography. By 1863 he had set up his Edinburgh studio on South Bridge, which moved briefly to 17 Princes Street and finally to 131 Princes Street in 1868. According to the 1871 census, he lived at 13 Abbortsford Park, Edinburgh and employed 3 photographers and 3 artists, presumably to colorize the photographs, which was often done in those days. In the 1881 census he was a 46-year-old man listed as an artist and photographer living at 10 Strathearn Road. Between 1889 and 1898 his business changed to John Horsburgh & Son (This son is John Alfred Horsburgh, born 1862, who also painted). In 1891 he lived at 'Albania', 48 St. Albans, Edinburgh, where he worked from home as an art consultant and painter. In the 1920s he was still offering his services as a portraitist, according to his letterhead in which he offered "portraits without tedious sittings" at The Langham Hotel in London, in private residences, chambers, clubs, and at Corstorphine, Edinburgh. He possibly based his portraits on photographs to avoid the tedium and exhaustion that sitting still implied for the models. At some point, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Scottish Society of Arts. John Horsburgh died at the end of September 1924.