Colley Cibber was not well received. In the middle of the play, he whispered to fellow actor Benjamin Victor that he wanted to go home, perhaps realising he was too old for the part and its physical demands. Cibber also essayed tragic parts in plays by Shakespeare, Ben Jonson, John Dryden and others, but with less success. By the end of his acting career, audiences were being entranced by the innovatively naturalistic acting of the rising star David Garrick, who made his London debut in the title part in a production of Cibber's adaptation of "Richard III" in 1741. He returned to
Scottish art in the eighteenth century suggesting the ultimate motivation for art was love. The same theme was painted by another of Hamilton's proteges, David Allan, two years later. In the late eighteenth century Ossian became a common subject for Scottish artists, and works were undertaken by Alexander Runciman and David Allan among others. Alexander also produced one of the earliest examples of a Scottish historical painting, showing the escape of Mary, Queen of Scots from Loch Leven Castle, which would become a major form in the nineteenth century. Allan returned to Edinburgh in 1780, became director and master of the Academy of Arts in 1786.