(1659 - 1710)
Painter Sir John Baptiste de Medina was born in Brussels, the son of a Spanish officer serving in the Netherlands. He was apprenticed to François Duchatel, before moving to London in about 1686. He was primarily a portraitist but also illustrated an edition of ‘Paradise Lost’ (published 1688) and produced subject paintings. In c.1695 he moved to Edinburgh with his wife and children, where his first commissions came from the circle of George, first Earl of Melville. In about 1700 William Aikman joined Medina’s studio and may have helped with a commission from the Royal College of Surgeons for a series of 29 portraits of its members (1697-1708). After being granted naturalisation, Medina was knighted. He died in Edinburgh at the age of c.51.
