Lot Essay
St. Bernard's Well, built in 1789, was Alexander Nasmyth's first known commission in Edinburgh. Lord Gardenstone, the patron, felt that he had benefited from the healing properties of the sulphurous spring of mineral water over which it was built. This Roman-style temple, whose outline is taken from Sibyl's temple at Tivoli, consists of a detailed entablature, supported on ten Doric columns, with a statue of Hygeia beneath the dome. Situated on the south bank of the Water of Leith, the well is a short distance from Stockbridge, seen in the distance.