We’ve selected a few key objects from our collection for you to explore. These are the highlights of the Scottish National Portrait Gallery.
Alexander Nasmyth
Robert Burns, 1759 - 1796. Poet1787This half-length portrait of Burns, framed within an oval, has become the most well-known and widely reproduced image of the famous Scottish poet. Nasmyth's painting, commissioned by the publisher William Creech, was to be engraved for a new edition of Burn's poems. He is shown fashionably dressed against a landscape, evoking his rural background in Alloway, Ayrshire. Burns and Nasmyth had become good friends, having been introduced to one another in Edinburgh by a mutual patron, Patrick Miller of Dalswinton. Nasmyth, pleased to have recorded Burns' likeness convincingly, decided to leave the painting in a slightly unfinished state.
Glossary [3] Open
Commission
When an individual or organisation employs an artist to execute a particular project, the process and the resulting work are termed a ‘commission’.
Engraving
The printmaking technique in which an image is inscribed on a copper plate with a tool that cuts a groove in the surface. This groove holds the ink that creates the print when it is applied to paper. Also refers to the method of making an incision on a material such as glass.
Patronage
The support given to artists by an individual or organisation, usually through buying or funding their work.
- Accession no. PG 1063
- Medium Oil on canvas
- Size 38.40 x 32.40 cm
- Credit Bequeathed by Colonel William Burns 1872
Alexander Nasmyth (Scottish, 1758 - 1840)
Nasmyth's impressive landscapes are his most significant contribution to painting in Scotland. One of his most famous works, however, is the portrait of his friend, the poet Robert Burns. Nasmyth, a pupil of Runciman, was assistant to Allan Ramsay and developed a sound appreciation of the importance of drawing to educate the artist's eye and hand. His interest in landscape painting stimulated his involvement with landscaping projects, including the layout of the grounds of Inveraray Castle. He was also an accomplished engineer, designing and building several bridges, and an influential teacher, inspiring many younger artists including his own children.