A mountainous wooded landscape with figures crossing a river

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, but soon turned to concentrate fully on landscape in the 1790's.