A waterfall in Tillicoultry Glen, Clackmannanshire

Alexander Nasmyth was one of the chief founders of the Scottish picturesque landscape painting tradition and a leading figure in the golden period of Edinburgh's renaissance. Born in Edinburgh where he studied at the Trustees' Academy, he worked as an assistant to Allan Ramsay in London from 1774 until he settled in Edinburgh as a portrait painter in 1778. Between 1782-1785 he spent time in Italy where he became interested in landscape painting. On his return to Scotland, he took up portrait painting again, only turning full time to landscape in the 1790's. Although he painted specific places, Nasmyth never tried to attain topographical accuracy and his views are often slightly idealised.

The Tillicoultry Burn flows through Mill Glen in the Ochil Hills, meeting the River Devon, and was the main source of water power used by textile mills in the area during the nineteenth century. There were around eight mills in Tillicoultry at this time producing blankets, shawls and tartans.