| Archibald McDonald, John's great grandson, was certain it was of his grandfather's father and that it was taken in Scotland and brought to Australia by John's son, also Archibald, when he emigrated to Australia. The photo was unframed and glued to a piece of tartan of the type John is wearing in the photo. The tartan's sett (pattern of threads) appears to be MacDonald of Glencoe, which is what John would have worn.
But John, a crofter, died in 1841 aged 42, and the photo was taken in a studio with a painted backdrop. So if this is John McDonald, then it is a photo of a 40 year old man, and in the early days of photography, either a travelling photographer visited the Dalmally area and set up a studio, or John travelled to a studio somewhere, perhaps Glasgow, 100 km away.2,3
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