Biography

"William MacLeod was born on April 12, 1811 in Alexandria, Virginia, where his parents had immigrated from Glasgow, Scotland in the 1790s. One of ten surviving children, William followed his brother Donald to Scotland to attend the University of Glasgow and live with his uncle, George MacLeod, who was a surgeon. Although it seems that MacLeod initially undertook studies to become a doctor, he also explored European art galleries and learned to paint. When he returned to the United States in the late 1830s, he traveled and painted landscapes in New York, New Hampshire, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. The first known exhibition of his work took place in Philadelphia in 1843. A few years later he was exhibiting frequently with the Ameican Art Union in New York.
His paintings are in keeping with the Hudson River School aesthetic of his time: dramatic renderings of the American landscape that carry spiritual and metaphoric significance.
Married in 1854, MacLeod provided instruction in painting and draftsmanship in Washington and Alexandria in the 1850s and 1860s in order to support his family. He continued to exhibit his work and participate in local artists’ groups. However, the outbreak of the Civil War disrupted his teaching and forced his painting school to close. In order to make ends meet, he secured a position as a clerk in the Third Auditor’s Office of the Treasury Department. He worked at the Treasury Department from 1861 to 1873, when he accepted a position as the first curator of the newly-formed Corcoran Gallery of Art."