Eventually he received much more work as he was recognised as Scotland's leading portraitist. He was a good friend of his fellow artist George Paul Chalmers. Among his portraits were those of James Coull (1786–1880), a survivor of the sea battle that led to the Capture of USS Chesapeake. Coull had also been born in Ferryden, near Montrose but decades before Irvine in 1786. Coull had fought at the Battle of Trafalgar and had lost a hand to a musket ball. After years of whaling he had retired to his hometown where Irvine painted him five times. Coull had become a celebrity because of his life and for living so long. Coull's obituary was eventually covered in the "New York Times".