David Martin (1 April 1737 – 30 December 1797) was a Scottish painter and engraver. Born in
Fife
Fife ( , ; ; ) is a council areas of Scotland, council area and lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area in Scotland. A peninsula, it is bordered by the Firth of Tay to the north, the North Sea to the east, the Firth of Forth to the s ...
, he studied in Italy and England, before gaining a reputation as a portrait painter.
Early life
Born in
Anstruther Easter, he was the first of the five children of John Martin (1699/1700–1772), Anstruther Easter's parish schoolmaster, and his second wife, Mary Boyack (?1702–1783).
Painting career

Martin accompanied his art teacher, the portrait painter
Allan Ramsay Allan Ramsay may refer to:
*Allan Ramsay (poet) or Allan Ramsay the Elder (1686–1758), Scottish poet
*Allan Ramsay (artist)
Allan Ramsay (13 October 171310 August 1784) was a Scottish portrait Painting, painter.
Life and career
Ramsay w ...
on his tour of Italy in 1756–7, and after returning became a student at the
St Martin's Lane Academy in London. There he gained premiums for life drawing in each year from 1759 to 1761. He also joined Ramsay's studio in the 1760s as its principal draughtsman, helping to produce many of the coronation portraits of George III and Queen Charlotte.
Martin had his own studio by 1770, by which time he had also produced his first self-portrait (now in the
National Gallery of Scotland
The National (formerly the Scottish National Gallery) is the national art gallery of Scotland. It is located on The Mound in central Edinburgh, close to Princes Street. The building was designed in a neoclassical style by William Henry Playfa ...
). It shows him with a clear fair skin, wavy ginger hair, aquiline nose and small red lips. Martin painted over 300 portraits in his lifetime. One of the earliest independent ones is that of
Benjamin Franklin
Benjamin Franklin (April 17, 1790) was an American polymath: a writer, scientist, inventor, statesman, diplomat, printer, publisher and Political philosophy, political philosopher.#britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Wood, 2021 Among the m ...
(now in the
White House
The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest (Washington, D.C.), NW in Washington, D.C., it has served as the residence of every U.S. president ...
,
Washington, DC
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and Federal district of the United States, federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from ...
), painted in 1767. His most influential works depict
Scottish Enlightenment
The Scottish Enlightenment (, ) was the period in 18th- and early-19th-century Scotland characterised by an outpouring of intellectual and scientific accomplishments. By the eighteenth century, Scotland had a network of parish schools in the Sco ...
figures like the chemist Joseph Black (1787, Scottish National Portrait Gallery) and the philosopher
David Hume
David Hume (; born David Home; – 25 August 1776) was a Scottish philosopher, historian, economist, and essayist who was best known for his highly influential system of empiricism, philosophical scepticism and metaphysical naturalism. Beg ...
(1770, now in a private collection), and noblewomen such as the Honourable Barbara Gray (1787). His ''
Dictionary of National Biography
The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') was published on 23 September ...
'' entry states that "He portrayed his sitters with integrity in an honest natural style, thereby consolidating a recognizably Scottish tradition of portraiture". Martin exhibited at the
Incorporated Society of Artists
The Society of Artists of Great Britain was founded in London in May 1761 by an association of artists in order to provide a venue for the public exhibition of recent work by living artists, such as was having success in the long-established P ...
from 1765 to 1777 (being elected its treasurer, vice-president, and president between 1772 and 1777), at the Free Society of Artists in 1767 and at the
Royal Academy
The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House in Piccadilly London, England. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its ...
in 1779 and 1790.
He is listed in 1766 as a member of the Society for the Encouragement of the Arts, Manufactures and Commerce, as "History Painter, living in Soho Square".

As well as producing his own paintings, Martin copied them himself in highly-praised
mezzotint
Mezzotint is a monochrome printmaking process of the intaglio (printmaking), intaglio family. It was the first printing process that yielded half-tones without using line- or dot-based techniques like hatching, cross-hatching or stipple. Mezzo ...
s, such as those of Lady
Frances Manners (1772), impressions of which may be seen in the
British Museum
The British Museum is a Museum, public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is the largest in the world. It documents the story of human cu ...
, under catalogue entries 1887 0406 87 and 1887 0406 142. He also executed
line engraving
Line engraving is a term for engraved images printed on paper to be used as prints or illustrations. The term is mainly used in connection with 18th- or 19th-century commercial illustrations for magazines and books or reproductions of paintings. ...
s, such as that of
William Murray, 1st Earl of Mansfield
William Murray, 1st Earl of Mansfield, (2 March 1705 – 20 March 1793), was a British judge, politician, lawyer, and peer best known for his reforms to English law. Born in Scone Palace, Perthshire, to a family of Scottish nobility, he wa ...
(an impression of which is held in the library of
Lincoln's Inn
The Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn, commonly known as Lincoln's Inn, is one of the four Inns of Court (professional associations for Barrister, barristers and judges) in London. To be called to the bar in order to practise as a barrister ...
), as well as producing engravings of landscapes.
In 1780, Martin returned to Edinburgh (although not selling his home in High Street, Dartford, until 1782), a move signalled by his admittance to the
Royal Company of Archers
The Royal Company of Archers, The King's Bodyguard for Scotland, is a ceremonial unit that serves as the Sovereign's bodyguard in Scotland—a role it has performed since 1822 during the reign of King George IV when the company provided a pers ...
and a rare full-length portrait he painted of its president,
Sir James Pringle of Stichill (1791–4). In 1785, Martin was appointed principal painter in Scotland to the
Prince of Wales
Prince of Wales (, ; ) is a title traditionally given to the male heir apparent to the History of the English monarchy, English, and later, the British throne. The title originated with the Welsh rulers of Kingdom of Gwynedd, Gwynedd who, from ...
.
Martin died in 1797 at his home, 4 St James Square, Edinburgh, and was buried on 3 January 1798, in the graveyard at
South Leith Parish Church
North and South Leith Parish Church, originally the Kirk of Our Lady, St Mary, is a congregation of the Church of Scotland. Prior to the union with the former North Leith Parish Church in 2024, the building was known as South Leith Parish Churc ...
. In 1799, his home and studio contents sold at an auction which took 21 days.
In 2018, as a result of research done by the BBC-TV program ''
Fake or Fortune?
''Fake or Fortune?'' is a BBC One documentary television series which examines the provenance and attribution of notable artworks. Since the first series aired in 2011, ''Fake or Fortune?'' has drawn audiences of up to 5 million viewers in t ...
'', Martin was verified as the artist who painted the portrait of
Dido Elizabeth Belle
Dido Elizabeth Belle (June 1761 – July 1804) was a British gentlewoman. She was born into slavery, an illegitimate daughter of Captain John Lindsay of the Royal Navy and Maria Belle; her mother, Maria Belle, was an enslaved Black woman in the ...
and her cousin Elizabeth, a work that had previously been attributed to
Johan Zoffany
Johan / Johann Joseph Zoffany (born Johannes Josephus Zaufallij; 13 March 1733 – 11 November 1810) was a German Neoclassicism, neoclassical painter who was active mainly in England, Italy, and India. His works appear in many prominent Briti ...
.
Family
On 20 July 1771, Martin married Ann Hill (1743–1775), but all three of their children died in infancy.
References
External links
*
Portraits by him at theNational Portrait Gallery National Portrait Gallery may refer to:
* National Portrait Gallery (Australia), in Canberra
* National Portrait Gallery (Sweden), in Mariefred
*National Portrait Gallery (United States), in Washington, D.C.
*National Portrait Gallery, London
...
His portraits at theNational Gallery of Scotland
The National (formerly the Scottish National Gallery) is the national art gallery of Scotland. It is located on The Mound in central Edinburgh, close to Princes Street. The building was designed in a neoclassical style by William Henry Playfa ...
Oxford DNB entryDavid Martin - ''Portrait of an Officer''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Martin, David
1737 births
1797 deaths
18th-century Scottish painters
18th-century Scottish male artists
Scottish male painters
Scottish printmakers
People of the Scottish Enlightenment
People from Anstruther
Members of the Royal Company of Archers
18th-century British printmakers
Scottish engravers
Scottish portrait painters