Abbott, John White (1763 – 1851) – Scotland; ‘The City of Edinburgh from the Top of Arthur’s Seat’.

This is one of the eighty numbered and beautifully mounted drawings Abbott made on his 1791 Summer tour of Yorkshire, Lancashire, Derbyshire, the Lake District and Scotland. Other examples from the Scottish leg of his journey are in the MET and the National Galleries of Scotland. There is also a drawing made from Arthur's Seat, but looking over Leith towards Kirkcaldy, made on the same day as this in the V&A. These are some of Abbott's earliest works and bear the strongest resemblance to the those of his teacher and friend, Francis Towne.