Perhaps the most famous of all the paintings of Robert Burns is the one that hangs in
the National Portrait Gallery in Edinburgh by Alexander Nasmyth. Born in the Grassmarket in Edinburgh in 1758. As a youth he traveled to London to become an
apprentice to Allan Ramsay, the Scottish Van Dyke. After a brief period in Italy, he returned to Edinburgh and set up business as a portrait painter.
Nasmyth later turned away from painting portraits and became an important painter of Scottish Landscapes, becoming known as “the father of Scottish Landscape painting.
Burns met Nasmyth during his time in Edinburgh and the two became great friends, they visited Roslyn Chapel and went on many walks together sharing the same love of nature.
Alexander Nasmyth like many of his contemporises at the time was a member of Cannongate Kilwinning No.2.