Nasmyth, Alexander (1758-1840)

Scottish painter and inventor. In 1778 he established himself in Edinburgh as a portrait painter, and had the poet Robert Burns among his sitters; later he turned to landscape painting. He was also a set designer and an inventor, experimenting with the application of steam power to ship propulsion.

Born in Edinburgh, he was a pupil of Allan Ramsay. He settled in London about 1797, and his landscapes of southern England earned him the title of the ‘English Hobbema’. In 1822 he published 16 views of places described in Walter Scott's Waverley novels.

His son Patrick (1787-1831) was also a painter.