About this artwork
Thomas Muir spent his life fighting for the rights of the poor and the oppressed. Encouraged by the revolution in France, Muir pressed for parliamentary reform in Britain. In 1793 he was charged with sedition and sentenced to fourteen years exile in Botany Bay, Australia. In 1796 Muir arranged his escape to America but he was arrested by the Spanish and terribly injured when his Spanish ship was attacked by the British. Assumed to be dead by the authorities, Muir reached Paris where he was treated as a great hero and martyr. He spent the remaining months of his life trying to persuade the French to help establish a Scottish republic.
Updated before 2020
-
artist:David Martin (1737 - 1797) Scottish
-
title:Thomas Muir, 1765 - 1799. Parliamentary reformer
-
date created:About 1785
-
materials:Chalk on paper
-
measurements:29.80 x 18.60 cm
-
object type:
-
credit line:Bequeathed by W.F. Watson 1886
-
accession number:PG 1668
-
gallery:
-
depicted:
-
subject:
David Martin
David Martin
David Martin was born in Anstruther, Fife, the son of a schoolmaster. He trained under Allan Ramsay, working in his fellow Scot's London studio from about 1752. In 1755 he joined Ramsay in Rome and probably returned with him to London in 1757, working as his chief assistant, producing copies of...