William McTaggart, 1835 - 1910.

This 1872 portrait of William McTaggart by George Paul Chalmers captures one of the most important Scottish painters of the era at a key moment in his career. McTaggart was developing the vigorous, expressive painting style that would make him the foremost Scottish Impressionist — before Impressionism had even been named — and Chalmers's portrait records him as a young man of strong artistic ambition. Both Chalmers and McTaggart were central figures in the Edinburgh art world, and this portrait is a document of the mutual regard between two significant Scottish painters. The Scottish National Portrait Gallery holds it as part of its collection of artistic figures.

Chalmers renders McTaggart with a loose, lively brushwork appropriate to the subject — a painter known himself for expressive handling. The portrait is built with confident, direct strokes that capture the sitter's energetic temperament.