Barbara Nasmyth (15 April 1790 – 2 February 1870) was a Scottish oil and watercolour painter. She is particularly known for her handling of woodland scenery,[1] and often depicted scenes of the Lake District and Edinburgh and its surrounding area.[2]
Barbara was the daughter of the painter Alexander Nasmyth (1758–1840) and his wife Barbara Foulis (died 1847), one of their eleven children and one of their six daughters, all of whom became accomplished artists. Nasmyth was determined that all his children should be able to be independent, and accordingly taught them to draw and paint.[3] After he set up an art school in the family home at 47 York Place, Edinburgh, some time between 1785 and 1792, Barbara and her sisters helped with the tuition.[4]
Following the death of her father in 1840, Barbara moved to Patricroft, near Manchester, along with two of her sisters and her mother, to live with her brother, James.[3][a]James Nasmyth was an engineer, and the inventor of the steam hammer.[5] She moved to London in about 1850.[4]
Barbara exhibited her work from 1845, the last of her sisters to do so. She died at her home in Putney on 2 February 1870.[3]
