Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Delane, Solomon
DELANE, SOLOMON (1727–1784?), landscape-painter, born at Edinburgh in 1727, was a self-taught artist, who worked entirely from nature. He travelled in France and Italy, painting many landscapes, and settled for some years in Rome. In 1763 he sent a large landscape from Rome to the exhibition at Spring Gardens, and in 1771 sent two landscapes to the exhibition of the Royal Academy. Up to 1777 he continued to send landscapes from Rome to the principal exhibitions, and then appears to have travelled in Germany, residing about 1780 near Augsburg. In 1782 he appears to have returned to London, and exhibited two views in the Alps at the Royal Academy. His name appears for the last time in 1784, after which date nothing more is known of him. His landscapes were admired for their good perspective and effective treatment of the sky. In the print room at the British Museum there is a large humorous etching by him, entitled ‘The Right Comical L. C. J., J. Sparks.’
[Redgrave's Dict. of Artists; Nagler's Künstler-Lexikon; Graves's Dict. of Artists, 1760–1880; Catalogues of the Royal Academy, &c.]