A Cyclopaedia of Female Biography/Gillies, Margaret
GILLIES, MARGARET.
This lady is a native of Scotland, where her early years were passed; she manifested, while yet a child, a great talent for drawing, and when a change in her circumstances rendered it necessary for her to seek some mode of subsistence, she determined on becoming a professional artist. Under the teaching of Frederick Cruikshank, and afterwards of Henri Scheffer, of Paris, where she had access to the studio of his celebrated brother, Ary Scheffer, she attained great proficiency as a portrait painter, in which line of art she has taken a very high stand. Her portraits are generally what may indeed be called "speaking likenesses," full of thought, feeling, and expression. The good position which Miss Gillies quickly attained at the Royal Academy, she has steadily maintained and improved. The old society of painters in water colours, has elected her a member, and to the exhibitions of this institution she has of late years been a constant and valued contributor. She has also exhibited some good paintings in oil, besides her portraits, which shew a high capability for subject pictures.