John Brown (artist)

John Brown was born around 1752, in Edinburgh, Scotland, the son of a watchmaker.

In Italy and Sicily he made sketches of the ruins of ancient buildings for his Scottish patrons, William Townley and Sir William Young,[1] and sent drawings to the Royal Academy.

Brown worked on a small scale and favoured pencil, pen and wash as his media.

Notable among his drawings are a number of genre scenes, such as Two Men in Conversation (c. 1775–80; Courtauld Institute, London), which show the influence of Henry Fuseli, with whom Brown was friendly.

He returned to Scotland in ill health and died at Leith, Edinburgh's harbour area, in 1787.