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JOHN THOMSON (1778-184o)

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Originally appearing in Volume V26, Page 875 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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JOHN See also:THOMSON (1778-184o)  , Scottish landscape painter—See also:Thomson of Duddingston, as he is commonly styled—was See also:born on the 1st of See also:September 1778 at Dailly, See also:Ayrshire . His See also:father, grandfather and See also:great-grandfather were clergymen of the See also:Church of See also:Scotland . He studied for the same vocation in the university of See also:Edinburgh; and, residing with his See also:elder See also:brother, See also:Thomas Thomson, afterwards celebrated as an antiquarian and feudal lawyer, he made the acquaintance of See also:Francis See also:Jeffrey and other See also:young members of the Scottish See also:bar afterwards notable . During the See also:recess he sketched in the See also:country, and, while attending his final See also:college session, he studied See also:art for a See also:month under See also:Alexander See also:Nasmyth . After his father's See also:death he became, in 'Soo, his successor as See also:minister of Dailly; and in 18os he was translated to the See also:parish of Duddingston, See also:close to Edinburgh . He continued, however, to practise art as an See also:amateur, apparently without any detriment to his See also:pastoral duties . Thomson's popularity as a painter increased with his increasing See also:artistic skill; and, having mastered his initial scruples against receiving artistic fees, on being offered X15 for a landscape--reassured, by " Grecian " See also:Williams's stout assertion that the See also:work was" See also:worth thrice the amount "—the minister of Duddingston began to dispose of the productions of his See also:brush in the usual manner . In 183o he was made an honorary member of the Royal Scottish See also:Academy . Thomson was also an accomplished performer`on See also:violin and See also:flute, an exact and well-read student of See also:physical See also:science, and one of the writers on See also:optics in the See also:early See also:numbers of the Edinburgh See also:Review . He enjoyed a singularly wide and eminent circle of See also:friends, including, among artists, See also:Turner and See also:Wilkie, and among men of letters, See also:Wilson and See also:Scott—the latter of whom desired that Thomson, instead of Turner, should have illustrated the collected edition of his See also:works . He died at Duddingston on the 27th of See also:October 1840 (not the loth, as stated by some authorities) . Thomson was twice married, and his second wife, the widow of Mr Dalrymple of See also:Cleland, was herself also a skilful amateur artist .

Thomson is fairly represented in the Scottish See also:

National See also:Gallery; and the " Aberlady See also:Bay " of that collection, with the soft infinity of its clouded See also:grey See also:sky, and its See also:sea which leaps and falls again in waves of sparkling and of shadowed See also:silver, is See also:fit to See also:rank among the triumphs of Scottish art .

End of Article: JOHN THOMSON (1778-184o)
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