Rosslyn Castle from the Glen

A close friend of Scott, with whom he shared a flat as a student in Edinburgh in the 1790s, Thomson was a talented amateur landscape artist. His depiction of Roslyn Castle, inspired by his illustrations for Scott’s Provincial Antiquities and Picturesque Scenery of Scotland (1826), epitomises the contemporary taste for picturesque landscapes associated with history or literature. Rich in historical, pictorial and literary associations and located just nine miles south of Edinburgh, Roslyn was firmly established as a popular tourist attraction when Thomson painted this view.