John Henry Lorimer (12 August 1856 – 4 November 1936) was a Scottish painter who worked on portraits andgenre scenes of everyday life.

Lorimer was born in Edinburgh, the son ofJames Lorimer, who was Regius Professor of Public Law atEdinburgh University from 1862 to 1890.^[1] He was educated atEdinburgh Academy,Edinburgh University and in 1875 at theRoyal Scottish Academy,^[2] taught byWilliam McTaggart andGeorge Paul Chalmers. This was followed by a period spent in Paris studying withCarolus-Duran. His younger brother was the renownedarchitect SirRobert Lorimer, who he sketched and painted throughout his life along with his sisters. Lorimer's first portrait was of his mother Hannah, completed in 1875 when he was 19 years old.^[3]

Lorimer travelled throughout Spain, Italy and Algiers between 1877 and 1891. He exhibited at the Royal Scottish Academy from 1873 and at theRoyal Academy from 1878. Significant amongst his works areThe Ordination of Elders in a Scottish Kirk, which hangs in theNational Gallery of Scotland,Spring Moonlight, which hangs inKirkcaldy Museum and Art Gallery and was the favourite painting of the readers of the local newspaper The Fife Free Press,^[4] andKellie Castle Garden, which was sold at auction in 2000 for £32,900.^[5] His portraits include those ofLyon Playfair,Joseph Lister,Peter Hately Waddell andFrederick Guthrie Tait.

Lorimer was elected an associate of theRoyal 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 ofKellie Castle inFife 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, thesculptorHew Lorimer. The castle is owned today by theNational Trust for Scotland who maintain a changing exhibition of his works, plus those of his brother, Robert Lorimer and nephew,Hew Lorimer.

In later life, he lived at 1 Bruntsfield Crescent in Edinburgh in a large house remodelled by his brotherRobert Lorimer who also lived there together with their sister Louise Lorimer. The artistRobert 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 theAstronomical 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 toSir 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 remoteNewburn Churchyard in ruralFife.

• John Henry Lorimer on the Gazetteer for Scotland
• Biography on National Gallery for Scotland
• 57 artworks by or after John Henry Lorimer at theArt UK site
• Media related toJohn Henry Lorimer at Wikimedia Commons

• 1856 births
• 1936 deaths
• 19th-century Scottish painters
• Scottish male painters
• 20th-century Scottish painters
• Artists from Edinburgh
• Alumni of the University of Edinburgh
• Scottish portrait painters
• People educated at Edinburgh Academy
• 19th-century Scottish male artists
• 20th-century Scottish male artists

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