James Archer

James Archer was a Scottish painter of portraits, genre scenes and history pictures, best remembered for his Arthurian subjects. From around 1859 he painted a series of brooding scenes from the legends of King Arthur, including several versions of La Mort d’Arthur.

He was born in Edinburgh in 1823 and studied at the Trustees’ Academy under Sir William Allan and Thomas Duncan. He first exhibited at the Royal Scottish Academy in 1842 and became a full member in 1858. In 1864 he moved to London, and in the 1880s he travelled to the United States and India. He was one of the first to paint children’s portraits in period costume, and his sitters included Andrew Carnegie and Sir Henry Irving. He died in Haslemere, Surrey, in 1904.

Queen Guinevere shows his taste for rich costume and a quiet, heavy mood.