Watercolour of a stone circle near Tormore, Arran
William Andrews Nesfield (1793-1881)


Watercolour entitled 'Circle of Stones near Tormore, Isle of Arran', by William Andrews Nesfield. The romantic landscape shows three standing stones, which are all that remain of the original seven or eight in Stone Circle 2 on Machrie Moor.

Nesfield was mostly associated with Northumbria, but he also painted scenes in the Alps, Scotland, Wales, Yorkshire and Ireland. He was particularly regarded for his paintings of waterfalls.

William Andrew Nesfield was born in Chester-le-Street and educated at Cambridge and Woolwich, and went on to serve in the Peninsular War and in Canada. He retired from the army in 1816 and took up watercolour painting very successfully, before taking up a third career as a landscape gardener in 1852. he helped with the design of the Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew, and the garden of Alnwick Castle.

SCRAN ID: 000-000-157-159-C; Victoria & Albert Museum