Alexander Nasmyth

View of the city of Stirling on the River Forth.

Highland scenery

Alexander Nasmyth (born September 9, 1758 in Edinburgh , † April 10, 1840 ibid) was a Scottish portrait and landscape painter who is considered the founder of traditional Scottish landscape painting.

Life

In her early youth, Nasmyth worked in a cartwright shop and decorated carriages with heraldic motifs. There the then 16-year-old was discovered by the Scottish painter Allan Ramsay , who took him to London and trained him. After completing his studies, Nasmyth settled in Edinburgh as a portrait painter in 1778. With the support of his patron Patrick Miller, he made a study trip to Italy in 1782 , where he stayed for two years.

In the years after his return, Nasmith opened a flourishing painting school in Edinburgh, which employed several of his daughters as teachers. The students included such well-known artists as William Leighton Leitch and David Roberts . Among other things, Nasmith created an excellent painting of the Scottish writer and poet Robert Burns , whose confidante he was. Difficulties caused him his obviously liberal political attitude, which caused his noble patrons to give him no more orders. In his later years he was more or less forced to focus on landscape painting, and he was also not afraid to take on the design of stage sets for theater performances.

Alexander Nasmyth's best works come from the first quarter of the 19th century. He was a member of many art associations and had a keen interest in science and architecture; For example, he designed the round temple pump house for St Bernard's Fountain in Stockbridge, Edinburgh. His youngest son, James Nasmyth, was a successful engineer, entrepreneur and inventor of the steam hammer . His six daughters enjoyed local reputation as painters, but it was his eldest son Patrick Nasmyth (1787–1831) who had a reputation as a painter similar to that of his father.

literature

• Dictionary of National Biography on the multimedia CD Infopedia UK, Softkey Multimedia Inc., 1996.
• Marcus Halliwell: Highland Landscapes - Paintings of Scotland in the 19th Century. Garamond Publishers Ltd, London, 1990, ISBN 1-85583-001-9 , p. 56.

Web links

Commons : Alexander Nasmyth  - collection of images, videos and audio files