John Thomson

Rev John Thomson FRSE HonRSA (1 September 177828 October 1840) was a Scottish minister of the Church of Scotland and noted amateur landscape painter. He was the minister of Duddingston Kirk from 1805 to 1840. Life The youngest of eight children, Thomson was born in the manse at Dailly, Ayrshire, the fourth son of Mary Hay and her husband, Rev Thomas Thomson, the local parish minister of the Church of Scotland. He was educated at Dailly Parish School. From an early age, he displayed an aptitude for drawing and painting and, inspired by the Ayrshire countryside, developed a love for landscape painting. In 1791 he enrolled at the University of Glasgow to study law and theology, and in 1793 he transferred to the University of Edinburgh to study divinity. While there, he met many people who were prominent in Edinburgh artistic circles, including Walter Scott, and Alexander Nasmyth, the latter of whom who gave him art lessons.