John Syme
{{Short description|Scottish portrait-painter (1795–1861)}}
{{for|the Scottish lawyer and friend of Robert Burns|John Syme (lawyer)}}
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{{Infobox artist
| name = John Syme
| image = John Syme (1795-1861) - John Syme (1795–1861), Artist, Self Portrait - PG 1545 - National Galleries of Scotland.jpg|thumb
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| caption = Self-portrait
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| birth_date = {{Birth date|1795|1|17|df=yes}}
| birth_place = Edinburgh, Scotland
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1861|8|3|1795|1|17|df=yes}}
| death_place = Edinburgh, Scotland
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| nationality = Scottish
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{{Use British English|date=August 2017}}
John Syme RSA (17 January 1795 – 3 August 1861) was a Scottish portrait painter.The Dictionary of Scottish Painters. 1600 to the present. Paul Harris and Julian Halsby. Canongate Publishing. 1990.Dictionary of Scottish Art and Architecture. Peter J. M. McEwan. Antique Collectors Club. 1994.
Life
File:John James Audubon 1826.jpg, 1826 portrait by John Syme, commissioned by William Home Lizars]]
File:22-33 Abercromby Place, Edinburgh.JPG
A nephew of Patrick Syme, he was born in Edinburgh to Alexander Syme and Catharine Johnston on 17 January 1795. He studied in the Trustees' Academy on Picardy Place. He became a pupil and assistant of Sir Henry Raeburn, whose unfinished works he completed, and subsequently practised with success as a portrait-painter in Edinburgh.
In the 1830s he is listed as living at 32 Abercromby Place in Edinburgh's Second New Town.{{Cite web|url=http://digital.nls.uk/83401839|title=Edinburgh Post Office annual directory, 1832-1833|website=National Library of Scotland|access-date=2018-01-18}}
Syme was an original member of the Royal Scottish Academy, founded in 1826, and took an active part in its management. He died in Edinburgh on 3 August 1861.
Works
He painted many portraits. That of John Barclay M.D. was exhibited at the London Royal Academy in 1819, and went to the Scottish National Gallery; it was engraved in mezzotint by Thomas Hodgetts, as were also those of John Broster and Andrew McKean. Syme's self-portrait went to the Royal Scottish Academy. His portrait of the Solicitor General, Lord Cockburn, was deposited with the Academy as his diploma work.Normand, Tom (2013), Portfolio:Treasures from the Diploma Collection at the Royal Scottish Academy, Luath Press Ltd., Edinburgh, pp. 20 & 21 A portrait of Alexander Henderson, Lord Provost of Edinburgh 1823-1825 hangs in the Merchant Hall in Edinburgh.
References
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;Attribution
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Category:Scottish portrait painters
Category:19th-century Scottish painters
Category:Scottish male painters