John Syme

For the Scottish lawyer and friend of Robert Burns, see John Syme (lawyer).

John Syme RSA (17 January 1795 – 3 August 1861) was a Scottish portrait painter.^[1][2]

John Syme
Self-portrait
Born	(1795-01-17)17 January 1795 Edinburgh, Scotland
Died	3 August 1861(1861-08-03) (aged 66) Edinburgh, Scotland
Nationality	Scottish

Life

John James Audubon, 1826 portrait by John Syme, commissioned by William Home Lizars

Abercromby Place, Edinburgh

A nephew of Patrick Syme, he was born in Edinburgh to Alexander Syme and Catharine Johnston on 17 January 1795. He studied in the Trustees' Academy on Picardy Place. He became a pupil and assistant of Sir Henry Raeburn, whose unfinished works he completed, and subsequently practised with success as a portrait-painter in Edinburgh.

In the 1830s he is listed as living at 32 Abercromby Place in Edinburgh's Second New Town.^[3]

Syme was an original member of the Royal Scottish Academy, founded in 1826, and took an active part in its management. He died in Edinburgh on 3 August 1861.

Works

He painted many portraits. That of John Barclay M.D. was exhibited at the London Royal Academy in 1819, and went to the Scottish National Gallery; it was engraved in mezzotint by Thomas Hodgetts, as were also those of John Broster and Andrew McKean. Syme's self-portrait went to the Royal Scottish Academy. His portrait of the Solicitor General, Lord Cockburn, was deposited with the Academy as his diploma work.^[4] A portrait of Alexander Henderson, Lord Provost of Edinburgh 1823-1825 hangs in the Merchant Hall in Edinburgh.