Oil on panel

(45cm x 61cm (17.5in x 24in))

Provenance: Major J. P. Compton, Blaysworth Manor, 1969 Christie's Scotland, British and Continental Paintings and Drawings, 27 June 1991, lot 50 (as 'A Figure on a Riverside Path with Cottages in an Extensive Landscape') Spink & Son, London, K2 5635

In 1810 Alexander Nasmyth visited London with his son Patrick (1787-1831) to view prominent private paintings collections. Patrick elected to remain in London, where he developed a detailed and precise painting style informed by seventeenth-century Dutch landscapes. Such was his commitment to the Dutch Masters, particularly Hobbema and Jacob van Ruisdael, that his obituary referred to him as ‘the English Hobbima’. Patrick continued to portray Scotland, which proved popular with London collectors. He was reported to have constructed a small portable painting tent which enabled him to work even in the most adverse weather conditions, so that he could capture a naturalistic and atmospheric impression of the landscape before him. Raised in a uniquely artistic and intellectual environment, it is of little surprise that the Nasmyth children understood the principles of drawing and painting. It is remarkable, however, that so many possessed natural artistic talent. Of his eleven children at least eight were gifted artists: his six eldest daughters Jane, Barbara, Margaret, Elizabeth, Anne and Charlotte, and his eldest son Patrick and younger son James. James observed that ‘my father’s object was to render each and every one of his children…independent…accordingly, he sedulously kept up the attention of his daughters to fine art. He set on foot drawing classes…managed by his six daughters, superintended by himself.’ The Nasmyth children benefited from intimate access to their father’s paintings and expansive drawings portfolio, including many early copies of Old Masters made at the Trustees Academy in Edinburgh and Allan Ramsay’s studio. It also contained numerous landscape sketches observed from life, overwhelmingly portraying England and Scotland. Only a few European sketches survive, likely made during Nasmyth’s Italian studies, but charmingly these continental landscapes appear to have been pored over by the Nasmyth children, and can be seen to have inspired passages in their mature paintings. They all went on to paint landscapes almost exclusively, with each adopting a personal interpretation of their father’s style.