John Fleming (1792-1845) was a Scottish

landscape painter Landscape painting, also known as landscape art, is the depiction of natural scenery such as mountains, valleys, trees, rivers, and forests, especially where the main subject is a wide view—with its elements arranged into a coherent compos ...

who lived and worked in

Greenock Greenock (; sco, Greenock; gd, Grianaig, ) is a town and administrative centre in the Inverclyde council areas of Scotland, council area in Scotland, United Kingdom and a former burgh of barony, burgh within the Counties of Scotland, historic ...

. He is best known for the series of views he painted for

Swan Swans are birds of the family (biology), family Anatidae within the genus ''Cygnus''. The swans' closest relatives include the goose, geese and ducks. Swans are grouped with the closely related geese in the subfamily Anserinae where they form t ...

's ''Lakes of Scotland,'' published at

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

in 1834.

Life

Fleming was born in about 1792 and apprenticed to a house painter at the age of fourteen. He is thought to have had some contact with the portrait painter James Saxon before spending some time in London, where he worked as a housepainter and took the opportunity to the study paintings in galleries there. As a landscapist, Fleming specialised in small paintings of Scottish scenery, which became widely known through a series of collaborations with the Glasgow engraver and publisher Joseph Swan. He first worked with Swan in 1828 on a publication entitled ''Select Views of Glasgow and its environs'', to which the Glasgow artist

John Knox John Knox ( gd, Iain Cnocc) (born – 24 November 1572) was a Scottish minister, Reformed theologian, and writer who was a leader of the country's Reformation. He was the founder of the Presbyterian Church of Scotland. Born in Giffordgat ...

also contributed. Fleming and Swan followed this with ''Select Views on the Clyde'' (1830) and ''Select Views of the Lakes of Scotland'' (1834). The last of these, consisting of a total of 48 plates, issued in 16 parts, proved popular enough to justify the publication of further editions in 1836 and 1839. Fleming also worked as a portrait painter and is listed as such in his first appearance in a local Greenock directory of 1831–2. From 1834 onwards he was listed as both a portrait and landscape painter. His portrait work seems to have been almost entirely commissioned by clients from within the town. Fleming was a regular contributor to the Glasgow Exhibition of the Fine Arts series of the works of living British Artists, held under the patronage of the Glasgow Dilettanti Society between 1828 and 1838. He became an extraordinary member of th
Glasgow Dilettanti Society
and was elected a member of th
West of Scotland Academy
when he showed at its first exhibition in 1841. He also exhibited at the

Royal Scottish Academy The Royal Scottish Academy (RSA) is the country’s national academy of art. It promotes contemporary Scottish art. The Academy was founded in 1826 by eleven artists meeting in Edinburgh. Originally named the Scottish Academy, it became the ...

exhibitions of 1828, 1830 and 1837, showing two landscapes at each. He died on 16 February 1845.

References

External links

* 1792 births 1845 deaths Scottish landscape painters 19th-century Scottish painters Scottish male painters 19th-century Scottish male artists {{Scotland-painter-stub