About this artwork
In spite of his enduring fame, Robert Burns’s early career proved difficult. Poor returns from farming in his native Ayrshire and a series of complicated love affairs left him in a challenging financial and personal situation. In desperation, he resolved in mid-1786 to accept employment on a Jamaican sugar plantation overseeing enslaved labourers. Burns booked two separate tickets to sail from Greenock. Instead, he travelled to Edinburgh to prepare the second edition of his Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect, for which Nasmyth’s evocative portrait was painted as the frontispiece. Still agonising over his future, Burns purchased a third ticket to sail from Leith. Soon after, however, the huge success of the new edition of his poems secured his position, enabling him to stay in his native Scotland.
Updated September 2023
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artist:Alexander Nasmyth (1758 - 1840) Scottish
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title:Robert Burns, 1759 - 1796. Poet
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date created:1787
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materials:Oil on canvas
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measurements:38.40 x 32.40 cm; Framed: 63.50 x 57.00 x 9.00 cm
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object type:
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credit line:Bequeathed by Colonel William Burns 1872
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accession number:PG 1063
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artwork photographed by:Antonia Reeve
Alexander Nasmyth
Alexander Nasmyth
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...