Charlotte Nasmyth

Charlotte was born in St Andrew's parish, Edinburgh, one of eleven children, including six daughters, of Alexander Nasmyth,{{cite ODNB |last1=Cooksey |first1=J. C. B. |title=Oxford Dictionary of National Biography |date=23 September 2004 |chapter-url=http://www.oxforddnb.com.rp.nla.gov.au/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-75558 |accessdate=15 March 2019 |chapter=Nasmyth Family, (per. 1788–1884), painters and art teachers: Charlotte Nasmyth |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/75558}} the "foremost landscape artist of his day".{{cite encyclopedia| first=Stana|last=Nedanic|title=NASMYTH, Charlotte |encyclopedia=The Biographical Dictionary of Scottish Women |date=2006 |publisher=Edinburgh University Press |location=Edinburgh |isbn=978-0-7486-3293-0|ref=SBiog}}

Charlotte, in common with her siblings Patrick, Jane, Barbara, Margaret, Elizabeth, and Anne, worked as a studio assistant to her father in Edinburgh, and also taught art classes.{{cite web |title=William Nicholson: Charlotte Nasmyth, 1804 - 1884. Artist. |url=https://www.nationalgalleries.org/art-and-artists/3395/charlotte-nasmyth-1804-1884-artist |website=National Galleries Scotland |accessdate=15 March 2019}} After the death of their father in 1840, his legacy and an auction of 155 of the family's paintings gave the Nasmyth sisters financial independence, and enabled them move to England. Between 1831 and 1866, Charlotte exhibited her romantic landscapes and other works at the Royal Scottish Academy, the Royal Society of British Artists, the Royal Academy, and other institutions.{{cite book |last1=Gray |first1=Sara |title=The Dictionary of British Women Artists |date=2009 |publisher=Casemate Publishers |isbn=9780718830847 |page=194 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LfAFBAAAQBAJ&q=%22Charlotte+Nasmyth%22&pg=PA194 |accessdate=15 March 2019 |chapter=Nasmyth, Misses Anne Gibson, Barbara, Charlotte, Elizabeth Wemyss, Jane, and Margaret: Charlotte Nasmyth}} She painted mainly in oils, and sometimes in watercolours, and also produced some etchings. Her subjects include landscapes of north Wales and various regions of England, as well as Scotland, indicating that she travelled widely throughout Britain. She was the most prolific artist of the six sisters. Modern writers have described her as "the most flamboyant and wildest", working "with a greater freedom and panache than her sisters". Contemporary reviewers described Charlotte's paintings as "little gems",{{cite news |title=Royal Scottish Academy's Exhibition |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000045/18580403/008/0003 |accessdate=16 March 2019 |work=Caledonian Mercury |date=3 April 1858 |page=3}}{{cite news |title=Fine Arts |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000242/18640707/010/0002 |accessdate=16 March 2019 |work=Newcastle Journal |date=7 July 1864 |page=2}} "delicious small-room pictures ... meant to .. form the individual treasure of some limited sphere of its own."{{cite news |title=Exhibition of the Royal Scottish Academy |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000540/18440424/058/0004 |accessdate=16 March 2019 |work=The Scotsman |date=24 April 1844 |page=4}} Gnarled tree trunks with broken branches were a favourite subject of Charlotte's, and a reviewer in 1866 wrote of one of her landscapes, "This is the finest bit of tree painting in the exhibition; vigorous, crisp, and beautiful in colour."{{cite news |title=Exhibition of Works of Art at the Music Hall |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000401/18660921/087/0006 |accessdate=16 March 2019 |work=Shrewsbury Chronicle |date=21 September 1866 |page=6}}

Charlotte died in Putney, Surrey, in 1884.

A portrait of Charlotte by William Nicholson is in the collection of the National Galleries Scotland, and another by Andrew Geddes{{cite web |title=Half-length portrait of Miss Charlotte Nasmyth; Drawn by: Andrew Geddes |url=https://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=744976&partId=1&searchText=Charlotte+Nasmyth&people=113488&page=1 |website=The British Museum |accessdate=15 March 2019}} is in the British Museum.

File:Charlotte Nasmyth-Pastoral Landscape.jpg

File:Charlotte Nasmyth Marlow lock from Cookham Dean.jpg

Works by Charlotte are held by the Scottish National Gallery,{{cite web |title=Pastoral Landscape. Charlotte Nasmyth (1804–1884), National Galleries of Scotland, Scottish National Gallery |url=https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/pastoral-landscape-214386 |website=ArtUK |publisher=Public Catalogue Foundation |accessdate=15 March 2019}}{{cite web |title=Charlotte Nasmyth: Pastoral Landscape |url=https://www.nationalgalleries.org/art-and-artists/5226/pastoral-landscape |website=National Galleries of Scotland |accessdate=15 March 2019}} the British Museum,{{cite web |title=Prints by Charlotte Nasmyth |url=https://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/search.aspx?searchText=Charlotte+Nasmyth&people=113488 |website=The British Museum |accessdate=15 March 2019}} the University of Dundee Fine Art Collections,{{cite web |title=Kincardine Castle, Perthshire. Charlotte Nasmyth (1804–1884), University of Dundee Fine Art Collections |url=https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/kincardine-castle-perthshire-91197 |website=ArtUK |publisher=Public Catalogue Foundation |accessdate=15 March 2019}} Alloa Tower (the National Trust for Scotland),{{cite web |title=View of Alloa and Stirling Castle from Clackmann Hill. Charlotte Nasmyth (1804–1884), National Trust for Scotland, Alloa Tower |url=https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/view-of-alloa-and-stirling-castle-from-clackmann-hill-195735 |website=ArtUK |publisher=Public Catalogue Foundation |accessdate=15 March 2019}} and Hill Top and the Beatrix Potter Gallery (the National Trust).{{cite web |title=The Entrance to Loch Katrine. Charlotte Nasmyth (1804–1884), National Trust, Hill Top and the Beatrix Potter Gallery |url=https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/the-entrance-to-loch-katrine-130450 |website=ArtUK |publisher=Public Catalogue Foundation |accessdate=15 March 2019}}{{cite journal |title=Walk: Loch Katrine, Stirlingshire |journal=Countryfile Magazine |date=3 September 2018 |url=https://www.countryfile.com/go-outdoors/walks/walk-loch-katrine-stirlingshire/ |accessdate=15 March 2019}}

• Highland Pass
• Hampstead Heath
• Musselburgh
• The Bay of Naples
• Pastoral Landscape
• Kincardine Castle, Perthshire
• View of Alloa and Stirling Castle from Clackmann Hill
• The Entrance to Loch Katrine
• At Barnes, near Putney
• Penshurst Park, Kent
• Near Penryn, North Wales{{cite book |last1=Harris |first1=Elree I. |last2=Scott |first2=Shirley R. |title=A Gallery of Her Own: An Annotated Bibliography of Women in Victorian Painting |date=2013 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=9781135494346 |pages=142–143 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WYkuAgAAQBAJ&q=%22Charlotte+Nasmyth%22+watercolour&pg=PA143 |accessdate=16 March 2019}}
• A Wooded Landscape with Travellers on a Path{{cite book |last1=Greer |first1=Germaine |title=The Obstacle Race: The Fortunes of Women Painters and Their Work |date=2001 |publisher=Tauris Parke Paperbacks |isbn=9781860646775 |page=20 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qnBu6eUvx18C&q=%22Charlotte+Nasmyth%22&pg=PA20 |accessdate=16 March 2019}}
• View in Essex{{cite book |title=The Art-union, Volume 7 |date=1845 |publisher=W. Thomas |page=348 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hhNaAAAAYAAJ&q=%22Charlotte+Nasmyth%22&pg=PA348 |accessdate=16 March 2019}}
• Derwent Water
• Strathearn, Perthshire
• Burnham Beeches{{cite book |last1=Nunn |first1=Pamela Gerrish |title=Victorian women artists |date=1987 |publisher=Women's Press |isbn=9780704350151 |pages=32–33 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=doVPAAAAMAAJ&q=%22Charlotte+Nasmyth%22 |accessdate=16 March 2019 |quote=(Charlotte Nasmyth's 'Burnham Beeches', 1861)}}
• Mill at Barton, Lancashire{{cite book |title=Exhibition of the Royal Scottish Academy, Volume 15 |date=1841 |publisher=Royal Scottish Academy |pages=11, 15, 24 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=W3dFAQAAMAAJ&q=%22Charlotte+Nasmyth%22 |accessdate=16 March 2019}}
• Cottage in Epping Forest
• Distant View of London from Norwood
• Cottage of North Hope, North Wales{{cite book |last1=Trevelyan |first1=Lady Paulina Jermyn |title=Selections from the literary and artistic remains of Paulina Jermyn Trevelyan. Ed. by D. Wooster |date=1879 |page=128 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uSwCAAAAQAAJ&q=%22Charlotte+Nasmyth%22 |accessdate=16 March 2019}}
• Marlow lock from Cookham Dean
• Rome. {{Cite web |title=Lot 223 - Charlotte Nasmyth (1804-1884) |url=https://www.sworder.co.uk/auction/lot/223-charlotte-nasmyth-1804-1884/?lot=500424&sd=1 |access-date=2024-12-27 |website=www.sworder.co.uk |language=en}}

{{Reflist}}

• {{commons category-inline|Charlotte Nasmyth}}
• [http://www.artnet.com/artists/charlotte-nasmyth/ Images of Charlotte Nasmyth's paintings] on ArtNet
• {{Art UK bio}}

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Category:1804 births

Category:1884 deaths

Category:19th-century Scottish painters

Category:19th-century Scottish women painters

Category:Painters from Edinburgh

Category:Scottish landscape painters

Category:Scottish women artists

Category:Sibling artists