This section of the website is dedicated to JOHN CLERK OF ELDIN (1728-1812). Here you will find information on his life and works.

John Clerk of Eldin was a remarkable man living in a remarkable age. Coming from a respected family, the Clerks of Penicuik, he was well-connected. His wife Susanna was the younger sister of his close friend, the renowned Scottish architect Robert Adam, while his friends and acquaintances included many of the significant people of the Age of Enlightenment – James Hutton, Adam Smith, David Hume, John Home and Dr Joseph Black, among many others.

The principal focus on these pages is Clerk’s etchings, which were the subject of a book, The Etchings of John Clerk of Eldin, which I, Geoffrey Bertram, wrote and published in 2012 to mark the bicentenary of his death. The publication coincided with an exhibition I curated, which was seen at Edinburgh City Art Centre and The Fleming Collection, London. The first website, coinciding also with the bicentenary, has been upgraded and updated.

Clerk of Eldin’s landscape etchings were produced in a short period between 1770 and 1778. They are not only records of buildings and places, now much altered, in ruins or demolished, but also go beyond mere topographical representation by being rendered in an aesthetic more akin to that of C17 European masters whose prints he had studied. This alone marks him out as special, and particularly so in Scotland, where homegrown landscape prints were non-existent before he turned his hand to printmaking.

Clerk of Eldin’s achievements in other areas of interest are also presented here. The geology drawings have a section dedicated to their history, while his contribution to the advancement of naval warfare strategies is outlined.