Margaret Nasmyth (1791–1869) was a Scottish landscape painter.
Early life Margaret Nasmyth was born on 11 April 1791 in Hill Street, St Andrew's parish, Edinburgh, into the distinguished Nasmyth family of painters and art teachers. Her father Alexander Nasmyth and six of her siblings—Jane, Barbara, Elizabeth, Anne, Charlotte, and Patrick—were all notable artists.Cooksey 2004.
Style Margaret imitated her father in style, but like Barbara she also practiced the more detailed, minute brushwork of her brother Patrick. Margaret left her father's house in 1836 to dwell with her brothers James and George, at Green Lane House, Patricroft, Manchester. She did not exhibit until 1841 at the age of fifty, by which date the whole family had come to live with James, when presumably she had more leisure time to devote to painting.
She travelled widely, drawing subjects from across Scotland, Cumberland, Lancashire, north Wales, Shropshire, Westmorland, Cheshire, Blackford Heath, and Chigwell, Essex.
Exhibits She exhibited at the Royal Society of British Artists (1841– 65), the Royal Scottish Academy (1830–61), the Royal Hibernian Academy (1843) and the Royal Glasgow Institute (1862–66).Gray 2009, p. 194.
She died at Stanhope Villas on 3 November 1869.
Works Her technique is fine and detailed, and she expended much care on all aspects of her paintings. Fine examples are Lake Scene and View of Kinfauns Castle Perthshire. She signed her work 'Margaret Nasmyth' in the bottom left-hand corner in a large, clear hand; or sometimes 'MN' with the date, in the bottom right-hand corner.
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Citations
Bibliography
Cooksey, J. C. B. (2004). "Nasmyth family (per. 1788–1884), painters and art teachers". In Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press. Gray, Sara (2009). "Margaret Nasmyth". In The Dictionary of Women Artists. Cambridge: The Lutterworth Press. Johnson, P. and Money, E. (1977). The Nasmyth Family of Painters. Leigh-On-Sea: F. Lewis. Oliver, Valerie Cassel, ed. (2011). "Nasmyth, Margaret". In Benezit Dictionary of Artists. Oxford University Press.