David Martin

David Martin (1737-1797) David Martin was a leading Scottish painter of portraits, and he was born in Anstruther on April 1st, 1737. Martin painted over 300 portraits in his lifetime. One of the earliest independent ones is the 1767 one of Benjamin Franklin (now in the White House, Washington, DC). His most influential works depict Scottish Enlightenment figures like the chemist Joseph Black (1787) and the philosopher David Hume (1770), and noblewomen such as the Honorable Barbara Gray (1787). In 1785 he was appointed principal painter to the Prince of Wales in Scotland.