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Lot Essay
Dreghorn Castle, Colinton, Midlothian, was built circa 1658 by Sir William Murray, Master of Works to King Charles II. It was extended and extensively re-designed between 1806 and 1810 by James Elliott for Archibald Trotter (1761-1823). It was demolished in 1955 and only the gatehouses in Dreghorn Lane and Oxgangs Road survive. The site is now the home of the Dreghorn Barracks, housing the King's Own Borderers and the Highland Band of the Scottish Division.
According to John Loudon's Encyclopedia of Gardening, (London, 1822, p. 1250), parts of the gardens at Dreghorn were planted from the 'designs of the celebrated landscape painter Nasmyth'. Between 1800 and 1808, Nasmyth was increasingly involved in architectural commissions for his patrons, ranging from building castles and large houses to laying out their estates. This period of architectural and landscaping activity coincides with an increased number of commissions to paint the country houses of those patrons, including Dalhousie Castle, Midlothian (circa 1802) and Castle Huntly, Perthshire, both in private collections. Generally these country house pictures are of a large size (approximately 36 x 48 in.) and are fine examples of Nasmyth at the height of his powers, as Lady Cooksey explains, these works in the first decade of the 19th century set the tone and calibre for his mature works,
'The technique and detail is very fine, the paintwork extremely well preserved, the colouring soft and pleasing, and the composition confident. From the early 1800s therefore Nasmyth's maturity as a landscape artist was fully established and he probably saw no reason to change it' (Cooksey,op.cit., p. 27).
According to John Loudon's Encyclopedia of Gardening, (London, 1822, p. 1250), parts of the gardens at Dreghorn were planted from the 'designs of the celebrated landscape painter Nasmyth'. Between 1800 and 1808, Nasmyth was increasingly involved in architectural commissions for his patrons, ranging from building castles and large houses to laying out their estates. This period of architectural and landscaping activity coincides with an increased number of commissions to paint the country houses of those patrons, including Dalhousie Castle, Midlothian (circa 1802) and Castle Huntly, Perthshire, both in private collections. Generally these country house pictures are of a large size (approximately 36 x 48 in.) and are fine examples of Nasmyth at the height of his powers, as Lady Cooksey explains, these works in the first decade of the 19th century set the tone and calibre for his mature works,
'The technique and detail is very fine, the paintwork extremely well preserved, the colouring soft and pleasing, and the composition confident. From the early 1800s therefore Nasmyth's maturity as a landscape artist was fully established and he probably saw no reason to change it' (Cooksey,op.cit., p. 27).