Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Dallas, Elmslie William
DALLAS, ELMSLIE WILLIAM (1809–1879), artist, second son of William Dallas of ‘Lloyd's’ and Sarah Day, was born in London 27 June 1809, and was descended from Alexander Dallas of Cantray, Inverness-shire. He was admitted a student of the Royal Academy in 1831, retiring in 1834 with a gold medal and a travelling studentship, his first picture, the interior of a Roman convent, being hung in the Academy in 1838. In 1840 he assisted Herr L. Grüner in the decoration of the garden pavilion at Buckingham Palace, painting a series of views of Melrose, Abbotsford, Loch Awe, Aros Castle, and Windermere Lake, in illustration of the writings of Scott. In 1841–2 he first exhibited in the Royal Scottish Academy, and in consequence of the appreciation with which his works were received he settled in Edinburgh, where his last picture was exhibited in 1858. His chief pictures were highly studied interiors and mediæval subjects, though several landscapes, notably of the Campagna, were successful. For some years he was also a teacher in the School of Design, until placed in retirement in 1858 on the affiliation of the school with the Science and Art Department. In this connection he prepared a work on ‘Applied Geometry,’ which was very highly commended by the late Professor Kelland in his report to the Board of Manufacturers, though regarded as too elaborate for the instruction of youth. In 1851 Dallas was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, before which body he read several valuable papers on the structure of diatomacea, on crystallogenesis, and on the optical mathematics of lenses. In 1859 he married Jane Fordyce, daughter of James Rose, W.S., of Dean Bank, Edinburgh, and he died 26 Jan. 1879.
[Proc. Roy. Soc. Edinb., Session 1879–80, p. 340.]