Alexander, a Scottish painter, was the son of an architect, and was born in Edinburgh in 1736. The enthusiasm of his artistic genius was very great. While a mere child, he went into the fields to sketch rocks and trees. At the age of fourteen he sat down to devote himself entirely to study under John Norry, an artist of local celebrity. In his nineteenth year, he appeared before the world as a landscape-painter by profession. Nor after the public had persisted during five years in neglecting his pieces did his self-confidence fail him. It then appeared to him that his proper province was in the higher field of historical painting. A trial of six years only tended to confirm this notion. Nothing was wanting to perfect him in high art, he thought, but a residence in Italy. He therefore spent five years in Rome, and came back in 1771 with a spasmodic style, and with a courage equal to the loftiest subjects. The remaining part of Runciman's career was as energetic as the former. Appointed professor in the trustees' academy immediately after his return, he applied himself to the task with a superabundant display of zeal. His attention was also constantly engrossed with the most ambitious designs. Among other efforts, he undertook to embellish the hall of his patron, Sir James Clerk of Penncuick, with twelve paintings from Ossian. With visions before him of making a miniature Sistine chapel, and of rivalling Michael Angelo, he set himself to work. His application grew so intense and so constant that his health was irretrievably injured. Accordingly, after the completion of the hall he became gradually weak, and on the 21st of October 1785 dropped down dead at the door of his lodgings. (Cunningham's Lives of British Painters, &c.)