Editing Alexander Nasmyth

{{Short description|Scottish painter (1758–1840)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2018}}
{{Use British English|date=March 2018}}
{{Infobox artist
| name          = Alexander Nasmyth
| image         = Alexander Nasmyth by Andrew Geddes.jpg
| image_size    = 200px
| caption       = Alexander Nasmyth by [[Andrew Geddes (artist)|Andrew Geddes]] 
| birth_name    = 
| birth_date    = {{birth date|df=yes|1758|9|9}}
| birth_place   = [[Edinburgh]], [[Scotland]], [[Kingdom of Great Britain]]
| death_date    = {{death date and age|1840|4|10|1758|9|9}}
| death_place   = [[Edinburgh]], [[Scotland]], [[Kingdom of Great Britain]]
| field         = [[Painting]]
| training      = 
| movement      = 
| works         = 
| patrons       = 
| awards        = 
}}

'''Alexander Nasmyth''' (9 September 1758{{snd}}10 April 1840) was a Scottish [[portrait]] and [[Landscape art|landscape]] [[Painting|painter]], a pupil of [[Allan Ramsay (artist)|Allan Ramsay]]. He also undertook several architectural commissions.

==Biography==
[[File:Alexander Nasmyth - View of the City of Edinburgh - Google Art Project.jpg|thumbnail|260px|''View of the City of Edinburgh'', [[Yale Center for British Art]]]]
[[File:The grave of Alexander Nasmyth, St Cuthbert's Churchyard.png|thumb|180px|The grave of Alexander Nasmyth, St Cuthbert's Churchyard]]
Nasmyth was born in [[Edinburgh]] on 9 September 1758.<ref name="EB1911">{{Cite EB1911|wstitle=Nasmyth, Alexander|volume=19|pages=248-249}} Endnote: For an account of the Nasmyth family see James Nasmyth's ''Autobiography'' (1883)</ref> He studied at the [[Royal High School (Edinburgh)|Royal High School]] and the [[Edinburgh College of Art|Trustees' Academy]] and was apprenticed to a coachbuilder. Aged sixteen, he was taken to London by portrait painter [[Allan Ramsay (1713-1784)|Allan Ramsay]] where he worked on subordinate parts of Ramsay's works.<ref name="EB1911" /> Nasmyth returned to Edinburgh in 1778, where he worked as a portrait painter. Offered a loan by [[Patrick Miller of Dalswinton]], Nasmyth left in 1782 for Italy, where he remained two years furthering his studies.<ref name="EB1911" /><ref name = "Skinner1966">[[Basil Skinner|Skinner, Basil]] (1966), ''Scots in Italy in the 18th Century'', [[National Galleries of Scotland]], Edinburgh, p. 25</ref> In Italy he devoted most of his attention to landscape painting, and is recorded as having copied a work by [[Claude Lorrain]].<ref>Macmillan 1986, p.142. Macmillan suggests that his interest in Classical landscape painting may have been due to the example of the Scottish artist [[Jacob More]], then resident in Rome.</ref>

Nasmyth returned to Scotland where for the next few years he continued his career as a portraitist. He painted some works in the style of Ramsay, but most were [[conversation piece]]s with outdoor settings.<ref name="EB1911" /><ref name=mac142>Macmillan 1986, p.142</ref> His portrait of [[Robert Burns]], who became a close friend,<ref name=mac142/> is now in the [[Scottish National Gallery]]. Eventually, Nasmyth's strong [[Liberalism|Liberal]] opinions offended many of his aristocratic patrons in a politically charged Edinburgh, leading to a falling off in commissions for portraits,<ref name="EB1911" /> and in 1792 he completely abandoned the genre, turning instead to landscape painting. He also began painting scenery for theatres, an activity he continued for the next thirty years, and in 1796 painted a [[panorama]].<ref name=mac144>Macmillan 1986, p.144</ref>

His landscapes are all of actual places, and architecture is usually an important element.<ref>Macmillan 1986, p.141</ref> Some works were painted to illustrate the effects that new buildings would have on an area, such as ''Inverary from the Sea'', painted for the Duke of Argyll to show the setting a proposed [[lighthouse]].<ref name=mac145>Macmillan 1986, p.145</ref>

Nasmyth had a great interest in engineering, and proposed several ideas that were later widely used, although he never [[patent]]ed any of them.<ref name=mac145/> In October 1788, when Patrick Miller sailed the world's first successful steamship, designed by [[William Symington]], on Dalswinton Loch, Nasmyth was one of the crew.<ref name=mac142/>

He was employed by members of the Scottish nobility in the improvement and beautification of their estates. He designed the circular temple covering [[Stockbridge, Edinburgh#St Bernard's Well|St Bernard's Well]] by the [[Water of Leith]] (1789), and bridges at [[Almondell and Calderwood Country Park|Almondell]], West Lothian, and [[Tongland]], Kirkcudbrightshire.<ref>{{Historic Environment Scotland|num=LB27905|desc=St Bernard's Well, off St Bernard's Bridge, including Stair, Walls, Railings and Plaque|cat=A|access-date=18 March 2019}}</ref> In 1815 he was one of those invited to submit proposals for the expansion of Edinburgh New Town.<ref>Macmillan 1986, p.142.</ref>

Nasmyth set up a drawing school<ref name=mac144/> and "instilled a whole generation with the importance of drawing as a tool of empirical investigation";<ref name=turner/> his pupils included [[David Wilkie (artist)|David Wilkie]], [[David Roberts (painter)|David Roberts]], [[Clarkson Stanfield]] and [[John Thomson of Duddingston]];<ref name=mac145/> and it was probably from him that John James Ruskin (father of [[John Ruskin]]) learned to paint as a schoolboy in Edinburgh in the later 1790s.<ref name=turner>{{cite book|first=Ian|last= Warrell|editor1-link=Robert Hewison|editor1-first=Robert |editor1-last=Hewison|display-editors=etal|title=Ruskin, Turner and the Pre-Raphaelites|publisher= Tate Gallery Publishing|date= 2000|page=13}}</ref> Another successful pupil was the painter, teacher, art dealer and connoisseur [[Andrew Wilson (artist)|Andrew Wilson]], who had his first art training under Nasmyth. Nasmyth was not only the tutor to the polymath [[Mary Somerville]] but he also introduced her to the leading intellectuals in Edinburgh.<ref name="Chapman2014">{{cite book|first=Allan |last=Chapman|title=Mary Somerville and the World of Science|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=i4pcBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA17|date=2014|publisher=Springer|isbn=978-3-319-09399-4|page=17}}</ref>

Nasmyth died at home, 47 York Place<ref>{{cite web|url=http://digital.nls.uk/directories/browse/pageturner.cfm?id=83401299&mode=transcription|title=(178) - Scottish Post Office Directories > Towns > Edinburgh > 1805-1834{{snd}}Post Office annual directory > 1832-1833{{snd}}Scottish Directories - National Library of Scotland|access-date=7 May 2016}}</ref> (roughly opposite the house of [[Sir Henry Raeburn]]), in Edinburgh. He was buried in [[The Parish Church of St Cuthbert|St Cuthbert's Church]]yard at the west end of Princes Street. The grave lies in the southern section towards the south-west.

==Family==
He married Barbara Foulis, the daughter of [[Sir James Foulis, 5th Baronet]] of [[Colinton]], on [[3 January]] 1786.<ref>Grant's Old and New Edinburgh vol.III</ref><ref name="James Nasmyth">{{cite book|last1=Nasmyth|first1=James|title=James Nasmyth, Engineer: An Autobiography|year=1885|publisher=John Murray, Albemarle Street|location=London|page=32|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TkE7AQAAMAAJ&q=barbara+foulis+nasmyth&pg=PA32|access-date=9 August 2017|ref=James Nasmyth}}</ref>

Nasmyth's eldest six daughters all became notable artists. His daughters were [[Jane Nasmyth|Jane]], [[Barbara Nasmyth|Barbara]], [[Margaret Nasmyth|Margaret]], [[Elizabeth Nasmyth|Elizabeth]], [[Anne Nasmyth|Anne]] and [[Charlotte Nasmyth|Charlotte]].<ref>{{cite ODNB|first=J. C. B. |last=Cooksey|title=Nasmyth family (per. 1788–1884)|id=75558}}</ref> His eldest son, [[Patrick Nasmyth]], studied under his father, then went to London and attracted attention as a landscapist.<ref name="EB1911" /> Another son, [[James Nasmyth]], invented the [[steam hammer]].<ref name="EB1911" /> He had three other children, Alexander, George and Mary.<ref name="James Nasmyth" />

==Architectural commissions==

Nasmyth obtained several commissions as architect (in terms of a masterplan and artistic concept): notably [[Rosneath House]] and [[Dunglass Castle, East Lothian|Dunglass Castle]].<ref>''Scotland's Lost Houses'' by Ian Gow</ref> In 1810, he designed the [[Nasmyth Bridge]] as part of the Almondell Estate, now in the  [[Almondell and Calderwood Country Park]].

==Gallery==
<gallery widths="130px" heights="145px">
File:View of Tantallon Castle and the Bass Rock by Alexander Nasmyth, NGS.JPG|View of [[Tantallon Castle]] and the [[Bass Rock]] 
File:Alexander Nasmyth - A View of Edinburgh from the West - Google Art Project.jpg |''A View of Edinburgh from the West'' (1822–6)
File:Alexander Nasmyth (1758-1840) - The Port of Leith - CAC1978-227 - City Art Centre.jpg|''The Port of Leith'', 1824
File:High Street and the Lawn Market, Edinburgh.png|''[[High Street and the Lawn Market, Edinburgh]]'', 1824
File:Alexander Nasmyth - Princes Street with the Commencement of the Building of the Royal Institution - Google Art Project.jpg|''[[Princes Street (painting)|Princes Street]]'', 1825
File:Nasmyth Alexander Highland Loch.jpg|A Highland Loch landscape
File:Alexander Nasmyth - Stage Design for Heart of Midlothian; Deans' Cottage - Google Art Project.jpg|''Stage design for Heart of Midlothian; Deans' Cottage''
File:PG 1063Burns Naysmithcrop.jpg|''[[Robert Burns]]'' (1787)
File:Alexander Nasmyth - Robert Burns, 1759 - 1796. Poet - Google Art Project.jpg|''Robert Burns, 1759{{snd}}1796. Poet''
</gallery>

==Notes==
{{reflist}}

===Sources===
{{refbegin}}
*{{cite book|last=Macmillan|first=Duncan |title=Painting in Scotland: The Golden Age: &#91;Talbot Rice Art Centre, University of Edinburgh, 8-31 August 1986: Tate Gallery, London, 15 October 1986-4 January 1987&#93;|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-1OuxwEACAAJ|year=1986|publisher=Phaidon Press|isbn=9780714824550}}
*{{cite book|last=Nasmyth|first=James|author-link=James Nasmyth|editor=Samuel Smiles|title=James Nasmyth, Engineer: An Autobiography|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TkE7AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA406|year=1885|publisher=John Murray}}
* For an account of Andrew Wilson see "The Scottish Claude" by John Ramm, ''Antique Dealer & Collectors Guide'', July 1997, Vol 50, No. 12
{{refend}}

==Further reading==
* Skinner, Basil (1966), ''Scots in Italy in the 18th Century'', National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh
* [[Duncan Macmillan (art historian)|Macmillan, Duncan]] (1984), ''Scottish Painting: The Later [[Scottish Enlightenment|Enlightenment]]'', in Parker, Geoff (ed.), ''[[Cencrastus]]'' No. 19, Winter 1984, pp.&nbsp;25 – 27, {{issn|0264-0856}}
*[[Poppy Cooksey|J. C. B. Cooksey]], ''Alexander Nasmyth H.R.S.A. 1758-1840: a Man of the Scottish Renaissance'' (Southampton, 1991) {{ASIN|B00166WSIY}}

==External links==
* {{Art UK bio}}
* [http://www.nationalgalleries.org/collection/online_az/4:322/?initial=N&artistId=3547&artistName=Alexander%20Nasmyth&submit=1 Works in the National Galleries of Scotland]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nasmyth, Alexander}}
[[Category:1758 births]]
[[Category:1840 deaths]]
[[Category:18th-century Scottish painters]]
[[Category:18th-century Scottish male artists]]
[[Category:19th-century Scottish painters]]
[[Category:Alumni of the Trustees' Academy]]
[[Category:Painters from Edinburgh]]
[[Category:People educated at the Royal High School, Edinburgh]]
[[Category:Scottish landscape painters]]
[[Category:Scottish male painters]]
[[Category:Scottish portrait painters]]
[[Category:19th-century Scottish male artists]]
[[Category:People of the Scottish Enlightenment]]