Artist. Cochran was born in Strathaven (South Lanarkshire) and trained at Foulis Academy in Glasgow, which he entered in 1754. He continued his training in Italy; he was in Naples in 1763 and shortly afterwards in Rome, where he worked with Gavin Hamilton (1723-98). He is best remembered as a portrait painter, known to have been working in this role in Ayrshire by 1768, but Cochran also painted historical subjects and landscapes.