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The Reverend Dr. Alexander Carlyle: Preserver of the Church from Fanaticism

John Kay British, Scottish
Sitter Dr. Alexander Carlyle British, Scottish
1789
Not on view
Kay portrays Alexander Carlyle in clerical collar and spurred boots, holding a hunting whip as he raises a finger to admonish invisible advisaries. As minister at Inveresk for fifty-seven years, Carlyle led the Moderate or Court party within the ecclesiastical courts of the Church of Scotland. He dubbed his conservative opponents Fanatics and was one of a handful of ministers who brooked a Presbyterian theater-going ban to attend "Douglas, a Tragedy," an historical play penned by John Home, a fellow divine. Carlyle also published anonymous pamphlets which helped ensure the production's success. A central contributor to the intellectual life of Enlightenment era Edinburgh, Carlyle enjoyed close friendships with the historians William Robertson and David Hume, and Adam Smith the famed economist.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: The Reverend Dr. Alexander Carlyle: Preserver of the Church from Fanaticism
  • Artist: John Kay (British, Dalkeith, Scotland 1742–1826 Edinburgh)
  • Sitter: Dr. Alexander Carlyle (British, Cummertrees, Dumfriesshire, Scotland 1722–1805 Inveresk)
  • Date: 1789
  • Medium: Etching
  • Dimensions: plate: 5 3/4 x 3 in. (14.6 x 7.6 cm)
    sheet: 7 1/16 x 3 13/16 in. (18 x 9.7 cm)
  • Classification: Prints
  • Credit Line: Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1917
  • Object Number: 17.3.756–1317
  • Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

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