Olga's Gallery

Allan Ramsay

(1713-1784)
            Allan Ramsay, Scottish portrait painter, was the eldest son of the poet Allan Ramsay (1685-1758). He was trained in Italy, and worked first in Edinburgh. From 1757, when he painted his first portrait of George III, then Prince of Wales, Ramsay was increasingly in demand as a royal portraitist. In 1762, he settled in London, and in 1767 was appointed portrait painter to George III.
            Though this appointment provided generous and steady income, it brought Ramsay to the decline of his artistic individuality. All his best works were fulfilled before the royal appointment. His style used to be simple and delicate, he especially excelled in portraits of women. As he had a lot of commissions for royal portraits, he had to drop the rest of his practice. Also his art weakened, the painting became like a mechanical process for him, until an accident to his arm in 1773  prevented him from painting altogether.
            Ramsay’s best paintings however will always be among the supreme achievements of British art.

Notes

Janet Dick – in 1736 she secretly married her cousin, Alexander Dick, Ramsay’s companion in Italy, later Sir Alexander Dick Cunnynghame of Prestonfield.

Margaret Lindsay, Mrs. Allan Ramsay, was the artist’s second wife, whom he married in 1752 in Edinburgh without the consent of her father, Sir Alexander Lindsay of Evelick, with whom she was never reconciled. She died in 1780.

Dr William Hunter (1718-83), doctor and anatomist, was the first professor of anatomy at the Royal Academy. He was a friend of Ramsay and left his remarkable collections, both artistic and scientific, to the University of Glasgow to found the Hunterian Museum.

Martha, Countess of Elgin (d.1810) was the daughter of Thomas White and married Charles Bruce, Earl of Elgin, in 1759.

Anne Bruce, Mrs. Bruce of Arnot, was the wife of Thomas Bruce and daughter of Sir John Bruce, Bart.

Anne Brown (of Coalstoun) was the first wife of Sir David Dalrymple, Bart (Lord Hailes).
 


Bibliography:
The Life and Art of Allan Ramsay by A. Smart. London. 1952.
Painting of Europe. XIII-XX centuries. Encyclopedic Dictionary. Moscow. Iskusstvo. 1999.


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