Thomas Murray (artist)

Thomas Murray
Thomas Murray, self-portrait, engraving by John Smith
Born	1663
Died	1734

Thomas Murray or Murrey (1663 – 1734) was a prominent Scottish portrait-painter.

He received his first lessons in art from one of the De Critz family. Subsequently he became a pupil of John Riley; like his master, Murray was just a face-painter, leaving the rest of the picture to be completed by others.

Murray was successful financially. He died in June 1734, leaving no children, and bequeathed his money to a nephew, with instructions that his monument, with a bust, should be erected in Westminster Abbey, provided that it did not cost too much. His nephew, however, taking him at his word, buried him in St. Paul's, Covent Garden, and found the monument too expensive to erect. ≠

Murray contributed a self-portrait to the Uffizi Gallery, Florence, on a visit to Italy in 1708. Like many of his portraits, it was engraved.

Among his sitters were:

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Cust, Lionel Henry (1894). "". In Lee, Sidney. Dictionary of National Biography. 39. London: Smith, Elder & Co.