William Denune was working as a portrait painter in Edinburgh from 1729, when he was a signatory of the Charter of the Academy of St Luke, the city's first art school. He operated studios in both Edinburgh and Dumfries, producing portraits for clients ranging from middle-class merchants and professionals to the Duke of Hamilton, whose portrait he painted in 1746. Influenced by the work of Allan Ramsay, Denune's portraits have a solid, straightforward quality.