A view of Loch Lomond with figures and boats in the foreground

Alexander Nasmyth is popularly acknowledged as the father of Scottish landscape painting. Typically his pictures show architectural features, or other striking landmarks, seen across stretches of water. Among his inspirations were the paintings of Claude Lorrain and Jacob van Ruisdael; he merged these influences with theories of the picturesque. Loch Lomond, which has the largest surface expanse of fresh water in Great Britain, is overshadowed by Ben Lomond, visible in this painting on the far side of the water. Thirty years after Nasmyth's death, the scene he depicted here gained newfound popularity, with the publication in 1876 of Andrew Lang's poem, The Bonnie Banks O' Loch Lomond.