About this artwork
Whilst the celebrated eighteenth-century portraitist Allan Ramsay painted many hundreds of sitters over the course of his career, he only produced a handful of self-portraits. One of the earliest is a likeness from around 1739, which is now in the collection of the National Portrait Gallery, London. This shows the young artist wearing his own dark hair and gazing intently out of the canvas. It was copied by Ramsay’s pupil Alexander Nasymth in 1781 and it is this version that is now in the Scottish National Portrait Gallery’s collection.
Updated 2021
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artist:Alexander NasmythScottish (1758 - 1840)
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title:Allan Ramsay, 1713 - 1784. Artist (Self-portrait)
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date created:Dated 1781
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after:Allan RamsayScottish (1713 - 1784)
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materials:Oil on canvas
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measurements:38.20 x 31.70 cm
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object type:
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credit line:Purchased 1887
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accession number:PG 189
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gallery:
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depicted:
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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...
