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AIKMAN,
a surname, being the same as Oakman. An oak tree was carried in the
arms of persons of this surname, and the family of Aikman of Cairney had
for crest an oak tree proper.
AIKMAN, WILLLIAM,
an eminent painter, the son of William Aikman of Cairney, advocate, by
Margaret, third sister of Sir John Clerk, of Pennycuik, Baronet, was born
24th October 1682. He was intended by his father for the law, but the bent
of his own mind early led him to painting as a profession. In 1707, after
selling off his paternal estate, he went to Rome, where he spent three
years in studying the great masters, and returned to his native country in
1712, having also visited Constantinople and Smyrna. At first his manner
was cold, but it afterwards became soft and easy. He was particularly
happy in giving graceful airs and genteel likenesses to the ladies whose
portraits he painted. In 1723, being patronized by John, duke of Argyle,
he was induced to settle as a portrait-painter in London, where he further
improved his colouring by the study of Sir Godfrey Kneller’s works.
His taste and
genius introduced him to the acquaintance and friendship of the duke of
Devonshire, the earl of Burlington, Sir Robert Walpole, Sir Godfrey
Kneller, and others. For the earl of Burlington, he painted a large
picture of the royal family, which his deaths prevented him from
finishing. It is now in possession of the duke of Devonshire. Aikman
married Marion, daughter of Mr. Lawson of Cairnmuir, county of Peebles, by
whom he had an only son, John. He died 4th June, O. S. 1731, in his 49th
year. His remains, with those of his son, who predeceased him about six
months, were removed to Edinburgh, and interred together in the Greyfriars’
church- -yard. An epitaph, by his friend Mallet the poet, was inscribed on
his tomb. Several of his portraits are in the possession of the dukes of
Hamilton, Argyle, Devonshire, and others. He numbered among his friends
Allan Ramsay, who wrote a pastoral farewell to him on his departure for
London, Somerville, the author of the Chase, and Thomson, the author of
the Seasons, who, as well as his friend Mallet, wrote elegiac verses on
his death. Mallet’s epitaph has been long effaced. Thomson’s poem on his
death closes with the following lines:
"A friend, when dead,
is but remov’d from sight,
Sunk in the lustre of eternal night;
And when the parting storms of life are o’er,
May yet rejoin us on a happier shore.
As those we love decay, we die in part,
String after string is severed from the heart,
Till loosen’d life, at last but breathing clay,
Without one pang is glad to fall away.
Unhappy he who latest feels the blow
Whose eyes have wept o’er every friend laid low;
Dragg’d ling’ring on from partial death to death,
Till dying, all he can resign is breath."
Aikman was also
intimate with Pope, Swift, Arbuthnot, Gay, and most of the wits of Queen
Anne’s days. His style bears a close resemblance to that of Kneller. In
the duke of Tuscany’s collection of the portraits of painters done by
their own hands, will be found that of Aikman, in the ducal gallery at
Florence.—Cunningham's Lives of Painters. |
