ALEXANDER NASMYTH (SCOTTISH 1758-1840) THE MILLER'S

ALEXANDER NASMYTH (SCOTTISH 1758-1840) THE MILLER'S LINN, INVERARY Signed and dated 1807, oil on canvas (56cm x 86.5cm (22in x 34in)) Footnote: Note: Alexander Nasmyth is remembered as the father of Scottish landscape painting. This delightful Inverary scene depicts industry and leisure: while figures on both banks enjoy an afternoon of fishing, the mill’s puffing chimney indicates work taking place within. The landscape is rendered with characteristic meticulousness, while retaining an atmosphere of romance and charm, demonstrating Nasmyth’s mastery of the genre. Alexander Nasmyth was born in Edinburgh in 1758, and would go on to become a key figure of the Edinburgh cultural Renaissance at the start of the nineteenth century. Initially apprenticed as a heraldic painter to a coachbuilder, his talent was identified by Allan Ramsay, who employed Nasmyth at his London studio. Here, he honed his painting technique working on minor areas of Ramsay’s compositions, while gaining an invaluable insight into the business of studio commissions. In 1778 Nasmyth returned to Edinburgh, and soon became an in-demand portrait painter. He travelled to Italy in 1782 to further study painting, a venture made possible by a loan from the banker Patrick Miller of Dalswinton. Miller would remain Nasmyth’s patron throughout his career, and as an expression of gratitude Nasmyth named his first son Patrick, who himself would go on to be a significant Scottish artist. Patrick Nasmyth also painted the Miller’s Lynn, Inverary in 1818. Alexander Nasmyth remained in Italy for two years, travelling around the country and developing his skills as a painter of landscapes. Upon his return to Scotland he developed a close friendship with Robert Burns, and the pair would often enjoy long walks together across central and southern Scotland. Nasmyth’s famous portrait of Burns now hangs in the Scottish National Portrait Gallery. From 1792 Nasmyth concentrated on landscape painting in the Dutch style. Architectural structures often feature in his scenes, owing to his enduring interest in building and engineering. Many of his designs for members of the Scottish nobility were realised, including the Dean Bridge in Edinburgh and a temple covering St. Bernard’s Well by the Water of Leith. By 1815 his reputation was such that he was invited to submit a proposal for the expansion of Edinburgh’s New Town. Nasmyth’s influence on Scottish landscape painting cannot be understated. He established a painting school at his home on York Place, Edinburgh, teaching pupils including Sir David Wilkie, David Roberts and Clarkson Stanfield. He insisted that his followers draw with their subject before them, rather than working from existing drawings or paintings. Wilkie would later describe Nasmyth as ‘the founder of landscape painting in Scotland [who] by his taste and talents took the lead for many years in the patriotic aim of enriching his native land with the representations of her romantic scenery’.