Alexander Nasmyth, Scottish 1758-1840- Rear view of John Wilson’s new house, Elleray; oil on canvas, 45.5x60.5cm Note: This beautiful painting is very important scholastically because it fills a gap in the research, namely a view of the approach to John Wilson’s new house Elleray. As well as being an artist, Alexander Nasmyth was frequently asked to view his patron’s landscapes, and ask for help to improve them, or to build a new property or extend an existing one. He would also advise on “clothing” or “dressing” the hills with new planting plans and get others to carry out the schemes. John Wilson, the Christopher North of Noctes Ambrosianae, a diary of Edinburgh drawing room gossip and satire, had inherited his father’s fortune around 1806 when a student at Oxford. He purchased 60 acres of land on the North Eastern slopes of Lake Windermere five miles south of Ambleside on which there was an existing cottage and stables. The Nasmyth family were close friends of John Harden and his wife, who also had a house on Windermere - Brathay Hall. The Wordsworths, Thomas de Quincey, the Coleridges and Robert Southey were all encamped in their own homes nearby and this circle of friends provided Nasmyth and sometimes his son Patrick to stay a few nights on their way south and to share outings and conversation or to paint pictures of the view. In 1807 Jessy Allan, a pupil in Nasmyth’s school for artists observed: “A young man of fortune (John Wilson) who bought …60 acres of ground last year…on which he is going to build a house and very wisely brought Nasmyth to plan it for him and take his advice concerning the situation” Nasmyth painted a picture of the site, probably the one exhibited in 1808 at the Incorporated Society of Artists entitled; the North End of Lake Windermere, with the Belle Isle and Workington Hall in the distance (J.C.B. Cooksey, Alexander Nasmyth 1758-1840 - His Life and Work, S38A), which is very similar to Q42A and the present painting. Wilson’s money was mismanaged, but by 1825 his fortunes revived, and this one storey house was built. It was to be a mile and a half above the lake. The house was to have Wilson’s rooms and the grand reception rooms on the left side and the front, the servants’ quarters and kitchen were to be on the right. The whole house, with no disturbing noise from stairs or overhead, was to be united by a glorious conservatory stocked with all manner of plants. Behind the view exhibited, was to be a kitchen garden. De Quincey recorded how meticulously Nasmyth attended to the brief: “Elleray was blessed with a magnificence so gorgeous as few estates in this Island can boast…. Stepping out from the very windows of the drawing room, you find yourself on a terrace which gives you the feeling of a spectacular height. The whole course of a noble lake (Windermere) lies subject to your view, with many of its islands, and its two opposite shores so different in character (mountainous)… sylvan tracks, meandering irregularly through the whole district, … the richest park scenery….I cannot recollect any spectacle …which dilates the heart with a sense of power of aeriel sublimity as this terrace view from Elleray” Wilson’s daughter Mary Gordon wrote in 1829 when the house was finished: “The plan when completed, which in appearance had been extravagant, turned out in reality to have been calculated with the coolest judgement and nicest foresight of domestic needs” This picture, though not signed, is in the opinion of Lady Poppy Cooksey by Alexander Nasmyth, and almost certainly depicts the rear view of Elleray. We are grateful for her assistance in the cataloguing of this lot. Please refer to department for condition report