The Flight of the Swallows by John Henry Lorimer, 1906The Ordination of Elders in a Scottish Kirk, 1891. National Gallery of Scotland.The Lorimer family grave, Newburn, Fife
John Henry Lorimer (12 August 1856 – 4 November 1936) was a Scottish painter who worked on portraits and genre scenes of everyday life.
Lorimer was elected an associate of the Royal Scottish Academy in 1882 and made a full academician in 1900. He showed 123 works at the Royal Scottish Academy and 43 works at the Royal Academy in London.
In 1878, the Lorimer family acquired the lease of Kellie CastleinFife and began its restoration for use as a holiday home. Many of Lorimer's paintings included Kellie Castle as a subject or as a setting; his studio was in one of the towers and looked out over the garden. Kellie Castle became the permanent family home, after purchase in 1948 by Robert Lorimer's son, the sculptorHew Lorimer. The castle is owned today by the National Trust for Scotland who maintain a changing exhibition of his works, plus those of his brother, Robert Lorimer and nephew, Hew Lorimer.
1 Bruntsfield Crescent, Edinburgh
In later life, he lived at 1 Bruntsfield Crescent in Edinburgh in a large house remodelled by his brother Robert Lorimer who also lived there together with their sister Louise Lorimer. The artist Robert Gibb lived next door at 2 Bruntsfield Crescent at that time.[6]
He was a Vice-President of the Edinburgh Astronomical Association (now known as the Astronomical Society of Edinburgh) and left a bequest to them on his death. The Lorimer Medal of the Astronomical Society of Edinburgh is now awarded in his name, the first being presented to Sir James Jeans in 1937.[7]
John Henry Lorimer died at Gyles House, Pittenweem, Fife, on 4 November 1936.
He is buried with his parents and siblings in the family grave in the extreme south-west corner of the remote Newburn Churchyard in rural Fife.