Alexander Nasmyth

Alexander Nasmyth , 1758-1840, Scottish landscape and portrait painter. His Stirling Castle (National Gall., London) is a good example of his simple, picturesque Scottish scenes. His portrait of Robert Burns is in the National Gallery of Edinburgh. His son and pupil, Patrick Nasmyth, 1787-1831, was a celebrated landscapist. His At Penshurst, Kent is in the Metropolitan Museum.

Nasmyth, Alexander (1758–1840). Scottish painter. He worked mainly in his native Edinburgh, but he was a pupil and assistant of Ramsay in London 1774–8, and in 1782–4 he visited Italy. There he became interested in landscape painting, which eventually took over from portraiture as his main concern. In his landscapes he blended classical elements stemming from Claude with naturalistic observation and became the founder of the Scottish landscape tradition, influencing many younger painters. He was a man of wide culture, interested in science as well as art, and he worked as a stage designer and architectural consultant. One of his friends was the poet Robert Burns, whose portrait he painted against a romantic landscape background (1787, NPG, Edinburgh). Nasmyth had several artist sons and daughters, of whom the most important was his eldest child, Patrick (1787–1831). He worked mainly in London and achieved great popularity with his prolific output of landscapes in the manner of the 17th-century Dutch masters, earning the nickname ‘the English Hobbema’.

Nasmyth, Alexander (b Edinburgh, 9 Sept. 1758; d Edinburgh, 10 Apr. 1840). Scottish painter. He worked mainly in Edinburgh, but he was a pupil and assistant of Ramsay in London 1774–8, and in 1782–4 he visited Italy. There he became interested in landscape painting, which eventually took over from portraiture as his main concern. In his landscapes he blended classical elements stemming from Claude with naturalistic observation and became the founder of the Scottish landscape tradition, influencing many younger painters. He was a man of wide culture, interested in science as well as art, and he worked as a stage designer and architectural consultant. One of his friends was the poet Robert Burns, whose portrait he painted against a romantic landscape background (1787, NPG, Edinburgh). Nasmyth had several artist sons and daughters, of whom the most important was his eldest child Patrick (b Edinburgh, 7 Jan. 1787; d London, 17 Aug. 1831). He worked mainly in London and won great popularity with his landscapes in the manner of the 17th-century Dutch masters, earning him the nickname ‘the English Hobbema’.