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View alphabetical lists of all artists who are either Scottish or whose works are associated with Scotland currently featured on the site.
Select the initial of the artist's name that you are looking for. Scroll down the list until you find the name, and select it for more information about the artist and his or her work.
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Artists are organised by their most commonly-used names. This is usually but not always their surname.
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- John Kay
- John Kay, 1742 - 1826. Caricaturist (Self-portrait)
- about 1786
- PG 892
- On Display
- Scottish Art
- John Kay
- Sir Ralph Abercromby, 1734 - 1801. General
- SP IV 1.10
- Scottish Art
John Kay (Scottish, 1742 - 1826)
John Kay was a portrait etcher and miniature painter who was born near Dalkeith. Self-taught, he originally started working as a barber in Edinburgh but devoted his spare time to art. In 1785 he left the barber?s trade for caricature portraiture. He made nearly 900 plates of almost every notable Scotsman of his time, with the exception of Burns. His portraits give us a quaint picture of Edinburgh society. He quickly and deftly summed up the characters of those living in prosperous Georgian Edinburgh. His etchings of Adam Smith are, with the medallion by Tassie, the only authentic likeness of him that exist.
