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NASMYTH,
ALEXANDER.—This excellent artist, the father of the Scottish school of
landscape painting, was born in Edinburgh, in the year 1758. Having
finished his early education in his native city, he went, while still a
youth, to London, where he became the apprenticed pupil of the Scottish
Vandyke, Allan Ramsey, son of the author of the "Gentle Shepherd." Under
this distinguished master, Nasmyth must have been a diligent scholar, as
his future excellence in portrait painting sufficiently attested. Italy,
however, was the land of his artistic affections; and in that beautiful
country, where nature and art equally unfold their rich stores for the
study of the painter, he became a resident for several years. During this
period he ardently devoted himself to his chosen profession of historical
and portrait painting. Bat this was not enough to satisfy his aspirations.
The silent but attractive beauty of nature, over its wide range of varied
scenery, led him at his leisure hours among the rich Italian landscapes,
which he studied with the fondness of an enthusiast and the eye of a
master; and in this way, while he was daily employed in copying the best
productions of the Italian schools, and learning, for the purpose of
imitating, their excellencies, he was also a diligent attendant at the
fountain-head, and qualifying himself to be a great landscape painter, in
which, afterwards, his distinction principally consisted. To these were
added the noble productions of ancient and modern architecture, that
breathe the breath of life through inanimate scenes, and speak of man, the
soul of creation—the mouldering walls and monuments of past generations
and mighty deeds, alternated with those stately palaces and picturesque
cottages that form the homes of a living generation. It was not enough for
Nasmyth to delineate these attractive vistas and noble fabrics, and store
them in his portfolio, as a mere stock in trade upon which to draw in
future professional emergencies. He, on the contrary, so completely
identified himself with their existence, that they became part and parcel
of his being. This he evinced some fifty years after, when Wilkie, then
fresh from Italy, visited the venerable father-artist, and conversed with
him upon the objects of his recent studies. On that occasion Nasmyth
astonished and delighted him by his Italian reminiscences, which were as
fresh, as life-like, and full of correct touches, as if he had but
yesterday left the country of Raffaele and Michael Angelo.
On returning from Italy,
Nasmyth commenced in earnest the profession of a portrait painter in his
native city. In those days personal vanity was to the full as strong in
Edinburgh as it is at present, while portrait painters, at least artists
worthy of the title, were very scarce; and it was not wonderful,
therefore, that the talents of Nasmyth in this department should soon find
ample occupation. The most distinguished gentlemen and ladies of his day
were proud to sit to him; and of the numerous portraits which he produced,
his admirable likeness of Burns will always be considered as a valuable
national monument of our honoured peasant bard. But still the artist’s
enthusiasm lay elsewhere: the countenance of nature possessed more charms
for him than even the "human face divine," and he could not forget the
delight he had experienced in sketching the beautiful and picturesque
scenery of Italy. And his own native Scotland too—was it not rich in
scenes that were worthy of the highest efforts of his art, although they
had hitherto been overlooked? To this department he therefore turned, and
became exclusively a landscape painter, while his successful efforts
quickly obtained for him a still higher distinction than his portraits had
secured. The admiration excited by his numerous productions in this style
of art, necessarily occasioned frequent visits to the mansions of the
noble and wealthy, by whom he was employed; and while his chief hours
there were devoted to strictly professional employment, his walks of
recreation in the garden or over the grounds, were by no means idle;
whatever object he saw was at once electrotyped upon his brain, on which
his busy fancy was employed in altering, touching, and retouching, until
an improved and complete picture was the result. His suggestions, the
fruit of such artistic taste, combined with careful study, were received
with pleasure, and their effect was an improvement in the scenic beauty of
the gardens and pleasure-grounds, by the alterations he had indicated.
This circumstance gave a new direction to his professional labours; he
must create scenery as well as paint it. The necessity was laid upon him
by his widely-reported fame as an improver, so that numerous applications
were made upon his time for such suggestions as might heighten and
harmonize the mansion scenery of our country. He therefore added this to
his other occupations, and found in it an ample source of emolument, as
well as professional enjoyment. And no one who has witnessed the condition
of our old Scottish feudal homes, that doggedly resisted every modern
innovation, will deny the necessity of such an office as that which was
thrust upon Nasmyth. Many a stately castellated and time-honoured abode of
the day, which still looked as if it expected a Highland spreagh or
border foray, and cared for nothing but its defences, was converted by
Nasmyth’s arrangements into the striking central object of a rich scenic
fore and background, upon which the tourist could pause with delight,
instead of hurrying by, as he had been wont to do, with the disappointed
exclamation, "I will take mine ease in mine inn!" Nor was the enthusiasm
of Nasmyth confined exclusively to rural beauty and its improvement. He
appreciated the noble site of Edinburgh, that fitting throne for the queen
of cities, and was anxious that man’s art should correspond with nature’s
beneficence in such a favoured locality. He therefore gave suggestions for
the improvement of our street architecture, which have been happily
followed, while many others have been partially adopted, connected with
the rich scenery of our northern metropolis, by which the whole aspect of
the city from its environs has been improved at every point. The
capabilities, in an artistic point of view, of his native city, was the
favourite theme of his evening conversations to the close of his
long-protracted life; and many can still remember how ancient Athens
itself was eclipsed by the pictures which he drew of what Edinburgh might
be made, through the advantages of her position, and the taste of her
citizens.
To these important and
engrossing occupations Nasmyth added that of teacher of his art, by
opening a school of paintilig in his own house, where he had for his
pupils many who have since distinguished themselves in different
departments of pictorial excellence. Among these may be mentioned his own
family of sons and daughters, all of whom were more or less imbued with
his spirit, particularly his eldest son, Peter, who died before him, whose
paintings now take their place among those of our foremost British
artists. In this way the days of Alexander Nasmyth were spent, until first
one generation of artists, and then another had passed away; but although
more than eighty years had now whitened his head and wrinkled his brow, he
still pursued his beloved occupation, as if death alone could arrest the
labours of his pencil. And that all the ardour as well as skill of his
former life continued unabated, was shown in his last work but one, "The
Bridge of Augustus," which he sent to the exhibition of the Royal Scottish
Academy. At length the hoary veteran died, and died at his post. A
melancholy interest is attached to his final effort. A few days before his
last illness, he expressed to his daughter Jane, herself an artist of no
ordinary excellence, his wish to paint something, but his difficulty in
finding a subject. After some deliberation and rejection, he said he would
paint a little picture, which he would call "Going Home." The subject was
an old labourer wending homeward at evening, when his day of labour had
ended. The sombre evening sky reposes upon the neighbouring hills; on the
foreground is an ancient oak, the patriarch of the forest, but now in the
last stage of decay, with one of its arms drooping over a brisk
stream—that stream of time which will still flow onward as merrily when
the whole forest itself has passed away. The old labourer, with the slow
step of age, is crossing a broken rustic bridge, and supporting himself by
its slender railing, while his faithful dog, who accompanies him, seems
impatient to reach home, a lonely cottage at a distance in the middle
ground, where the smoke curling from the roof announces that supper is in
readiness. It was the artist’s own silent requiem. His last illness, which
continued five weeks, was soothed by the solicitude of his family, to whom
he declared that he had lived long enough, and could not die better than
when surrounded by such dutiful, affectionate children. He died of natural
decay, at his house, 47, York Place, Edinburgh, on the 10th of April,
1840, at the advanced age of eighty-two.
Alexander Nasmyth, soon
after his return from Italy, married the sister of Sir James Foulis of
Woodhall, Colinton, who survived him, and by whom he had a numerous
family, distinguished for talent and success in their several departments
of life. Seldom, indeed, is paternal care so well rewarded, or paternal
genius so perpetuated. |
