Art UK
David Scougall (c. 1630 – 1685) was a Scottish portrait painter.[1] His parentage is unknown, but he was the eldest of the Scougall family of portrait painters.[2] There is only one known signed portrait by him, Lady Jean Campbell, now in the collection of the National Galleries of Scotland, but many others have been attributed to him based on their style and quality.[3]
From surviving accounts it appears that Scougall was as much in demand as a copyist as for his original compositions. Many of his portraits were “highly derivative”, such as that of William, first earl of Annandale, an exact copy of an earlier painting by the German artist Godfrey Kneller of the earl’s uncle, except for the head; the background for Scougall’s portrait of William, third earl of Lothian, is copied from a Van Dyck portrait of James, first duke of Hamilton.[2]
