When he was sixteen he entered the Trustees Academy in Edinburgh, working under Robert Scott Lauder with William Quiller Orchardson, J. MacWhirter, William McTaggart, Peter Graham (1836–1921), Tom Graham (1840–1906) and George Paul Chalmers. His first exhibits at the Royal Scottish Academy were "A Scene from the Fortunes of Nigel," one of the many subjects for which he sought inspiration in the novels of Sir Walter Scott, and two portraits in 1858, followed in 1859 by "The Prison". To the Royal Academy in 1860 he sent "The Armourers"; and the success of this work and "What d'ye Lack, Madam?" in the following year encouraged him to settle in London (1862), where he joined Orchardson.