Men of the Time, eleventh edition/Archer, James
ARCHER, James, was born in Edinburgh, June 10, 1824, and educated at the High School in that city. He was appointed an Associate of the Royal Scottish Academy in 1850, and a full Academician in 1858. Mr. Archer, who left Scotland for London in 1862, first exhibited in the Royal Academy a cartoon of a design of the Last Supper, followed by an oil picture of the same the year after. He made a series of pictures from the "Morte d'Arthur," of which one was exhibited in the Royal Academy—"The Mystic Sword Excalibur." He painted a series of pictures of children in costume, exhibited in the Royal Academy, of which "Maggie, you're Cheating" is the chief. He became a portrait painter in 1871, exhibiting a portrait of Col. Sykes, M.P., from which time he painted many portraits, one of the principal being that of Professor Blackie.