View of Edinburgh Castle
Attributed to Alexander Nasmyth, c. 1800
Edinburgh Castle on its volcanic rock above the city — Scotland's fortress in full presence.
About this work
View of Edinburgh Castle is a landscape attributed to the Scottish painter Alexander Nasmyth. The castle sits high on its rock against a stormy sky, with light breaking across the grassy slopes below, where small figures and animals cross the foreground. The attribution and date are not documented by a museum, so we describe it as attributed. Edinburgh Castle stands on Castle Rock, the plug of an extinct volcano that has been occupied since at least the Iron Age. There has been a royal castle there since the reign of Malcolm III in the eleventh century, and it remained a royal residence until 1633. Research in 2014 counted 26 sieges in its history, giving it a claim to be "the most besieged place in Great Britain." Few buildings survive from before the Lang Siege of 1573, when artillery largely destroyed the medieval defences; the main exception is St Margaret's Chapel of the early twelfth century. Nasmyth, born in Edinburgh in 1758, trained with the portrait painter Allan Ramsay in London and spent two years in Italy from 1782, where he turned his attention to landscape and copied Claude Lorrain. Back in Scotland he painted portraits and then, increasingly, landscapes, and also took on architectural commissions.
Sources: Wikipedia: Edinburgh Castle · Wikipedia: Alexander Nasmyth · Wikimedia Commons: View of Edinburgh Castle by Alexander Nasmyth
Print facts
- Native resolution
- 4,000 × 3,240 px
- Sharp at 150 ppi up to
- 26 × 21 in
- Sizes
- Small (20 × 16 in) · $100 · 200 ppi
Medium (24 × 19 in) · $150 · 167 ppi
Large (36 × 29 in) · $300 · 111 ppi - Price includes
- Frame and US shipping · 14–21 days · 30-day returns
FAQ
Where can I buy a framed print of View of Edinburgh Castle?
Here. View of Edinburgh Castle is available as a framed print in three sizes: Small (20 × 16 in) for $100, Medium (24 × 19 in) for $150 and Large (36 × 29 in) for $300. Prices include the frame and US shipping; delivery takes 14–21 days, with 30-day returns.
What size works best for View of Edinburgh Castle?
The file is 4,000 × 3,240 px. Medium (24 × 19 in) is the largest size that prints at 150 ppi or more (167 ppi), the sharpest choice for close viewing; Large (36 × 29 in) prints at 111 ppi, fine from a few feet away but softer up close.
Is it legal to print View of Edinburgh Castle?
Yes. View of Edinburgh Castle is in the public domain: its copyright, if it ever had one, expired long ago. In the United States a faithful photograph of a public-domain painting does not create a new copyright (Bridgeman v. Corel, 1999), so the image can be printed and sold freely.
