The Reverend John Thomson of Duddingston by Sir Henry Raeburn 1823

The Reverend John Thomson of Duddingston by Sir Henry Raeburn 1823.

John Thomson of Duddingston was born at Dailly in South Ayrshire where he succeeded his father as minister in 1800.  In 1805 he moved to be minister of Duddingston Kirk, near Edinburgh.  Besides being a minister, however, Thomson had a parallel career as a highly accomplished and famed painter of landscape.  He enjoyed enormous public success and his paintings commanded large sums.  He was also much respected by critics and by fellow artists.

 He had shown his aptitude for painting while young.  Nevertheless, in 1791 he began studying law and theology at Glasgow University and in 1798 transferred to Edinburgh University to continue studying for the ministry.  It was there that he met people who were prominent in artistic circles, including Alexander Nasmyth from whom he took art lessons for about a month.  On his return to Edinburgh as minister of Duddingston, he was able to renew his artistic acquaintances, including Sir Walter Scott and Raeburn.  He also became a friend of J.M.W.Turner, with whom he collaborated in producing engravings to illustrate Scott’s 1826 publication Provincial Antiquities and Picturesque Scenery of Scotland.

 Thomson was elected an Honorary Member of the Royal Institution for the Encouragement of the Fine Arts in Scotland and of the Royal Scottish Academy.  The greatest Scottish painter of his generation, he was an influential figure in the development of the Scottish school of landscape painting.

Portraits by one artist of another always have a special appeal.  Raeburn himself clearly liked this painting of his friend which he kept to the end of his life.  It then stayed in his family for many years.  It is a lively and characterful image with a strong presence, painted in 1823 when Thomson was 45.

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This object is eligible for a Certificate of BADA Provenance