Scottish painter. He began his career at the Trustees' Academy, Edinburgh, where he was a pupil of William Allan (1782-1850) and Thomas Duncan (1807-1845). In his early twenties he moved to Ireland to take up a teaching post under the Department of Science and Art. He lived in Dublin from 1845 to 1850 and travelled extensively throughout the country. These first years in Ireland coincided with the great famine, and the condition of the rural poor was often reflected in his work. Nicol later resided in London but returned almost annually to Ireland. Known for his comic and tragic paintings, often cabinet-sized, of Irish peasants. Nicol was made an Associate of the Royal Scottish Academy in 1855 and an Academician in 1859. He also exhibited at the Royal Academy (being made an ARA in 1866), the Royal Hibernian Academy and the British Institution. In 1905 the Royal Scottish Academy held a commemorative exhibition. //