Alexander Nasmyth was born on 9 September 1758 in the family home in the Grassmarket, Edinburgh, Scotland. He was the second son of Michael Nasmyth. While his forbears had been Lowland landed gentry, his father and grandfather were involved with the construction of some of the earliest houses in what would become known as the New Town. However, Alexander was not destined for the family business and he studied at the Royal High School and the Trustees’ Academy under Alexander Runciman. He was then apprenticed as an heraldic painter to a coachbuilder. At the age of 16, Alexander’s work came to the attention of the painter Allan Ramsay, who took the youth with him to London and employed him upon the subordinate portions of his works. Nasmyth returned to Edinburgh in 1778 with Ramsay’s blessing and determined to pursue the career of portrait painter. One of his earliest employers was a Mr Patrick Miller of Dalswinton, who had made a large fortune in Edinburgh as a banker; and after he had partially retired from business, devoted much of his time to useful purposes, such as inventing the carronade. Nasmyth worked for Miller as a draughtsman and assisted him in his mechanical researches and experiments. Miller generously offered Nasmyth a £500 loan to enable him to pursue his studies abroad. Nasmyth departed for Italy on 30 December 1782, where he remained two years, studying the work of the Old Masters in Florence, Bologna, Padua and Rome. He returned to Scotland at the end of 1784. On 3 January 1786 he married his distant relation Barbara Foulis of Woodhall, Colinton and set up house in St James’ Square. Miller then introduced him to the Scots poet Robbie Burns. The two struck up a firm friendship and Nasmyth painted the well-known portrait, now in the National Gallery of Edinburgh. Political feeling at that time ran high in Edinburgh, and Nasmyth’s outspoken Liberal opinions gave offence to many of his prospective aristocratic patrons. The field of portraiture in Edinburgh at that time was in any case dominated by Sir Henry Raeburn. After 1792, Nasmyth concentrated almost exclusively on landscape painting. Initially, he imitated the formal landscapes of Claude Lorraine and was influenced by the Dutch 17th Century painters whose work he had studied in Rome and on his travels on the Continent. In his later years, he devoted himself mainly to landscape work and pursued a career as a successful designer of theatrical scenery. His Stirling Castle may be found in the National Gallery in London and is a good example of his simple, picturesque Scottish scenes. He has been styled, not unjustly, the ‘father of Scottish landscape art’. His subjects are carefully finished and coloured, but are often wanting in boldness and freedom. Nasmyth was also employed by noblemen throughout Scotland in the improvement and beautifying of their estates, in which his fine taste rendered him especially skilful; and he designed the Dean Bridge, Edinburgh, and the graceful circular temple covering St Bernard’s Well in Stockbridge. Nasmyth opened a school of painting in his own house in 1798 and added the role of teacher to his many accomplishments. He influenced many younger artists and his teachings provided the groundwork for the Scottish landscape tradition of the later 19th century. His eldest son Peter (who predeceased him) and his six daughters all attained a reputation as artists, but it was in his eldest son, Patrick Nasmyth (1787-1831) that the artistic skill of his family was most powerfully developed. Having studied under his father, Patrick went to London at the age of 20 and soon attracted attention as a clever landscape artist. Another of Alexander’s successful pupils was Andrew Wilson, painter, teacher, art dealer and connoisseur. Nasmyth died in the city of his birth on 10 April 1840 at the great age of 82. Sir David Wilkie would write of him: ‘He was the founder of the Landscape Painting School of Scotland, and by his taste and talent has for many years taken the lead in the patriotic aim of enriching his native land with the representations of her romantic scenery’. Nasmyth’s youngest son James was the inventor of the steam hammer. In 2007 the National Gallery of Scotland held a major exhibition of Nasmyth’s work in Edinburgh. His View of Tantallon Castle may be seen above.