A side profile of Adam Smith. This is the only sure image of Adam Smith (1723-90) made by James Tassie (1753-1799) the stonemason and gem engraver. It was made in 1787. The profile is set in an oval and is made of porcelain.

The name of Adam Smith (1723-1790) is today synonymous with the economic principle of free enterprise. His most influential work, The Wealth of Nations, published in 1776, described how the individual pursuit of self-interest leads to the common good. In this book Smith also proposed labour, and not land, as the source of national wealth and theorised the 'division of labour' as a basis of production.

Smith was, however, a more complex intellectual figure than his posthumous popular reputation suggests. He was greatly influenced by Francis Hutcheson, whom he followed as Professor of Moral Philosophy at the University of Glasgow and he shared the ethical concerns of his great friend, David Hume.

A native of Kirkcaldy, Smith was briefly kidnapped by gypsies as a child, but otherwise his private life was unremarkable and typical of the many convivial characters of the Scottish Enlightment. While travelling in France as the tutor to the young Duke of Buccleuch, he met Voltaire and was a great hit with the ladies of the Paris salons; in London he socialised with Samuel Johnson's circle and in Edinburgh he founded a dining club with the two scientists, Joseph Black and James Hutton.

©SCRAN/National Galleries of Scotland
Portrait medallion of Adam Smith, political economist (1723-90).
By James Tassie, 1787.