Haldane MacFall

Haldane MacFall (1860–1928) was a British writer and art critic. Born in India, he served as an officer in the British Army and, after retiring on grounds of ill health in 1890, devoted himself to writing. He is best known for his artist biographies and works on art history, including Vigée Le Brun, Boucher and Fragonard, which focus largely on eighteenth-century French painters and were often illustrated with his own drawings, combining documentary value with readability. Three of his works are held in this collection; common classification information is currently unavailable, and public material on his early education, personal circle and specific influence is limited. MacFall died in 1928. His critical biographies, which interweave the lives of artists with the manners of their age, earned him a place among early twentieth-century British popular writing on art.