• Was a Scottish painter and engraver.
• Born in Anstruther Easter.
• David Martin accompanied his art teacher, Allan Ramsay on his tour of Italy in 1756–7.
• After returning became a student at the St Martin's Lane Academy in London.
• He joined Ramsay's studio in the 1760s as its principal draughtsman.
• Martin had his own studio by 1770.
• Martin painted over 300 portraits in his lifetime
• One of the earliest independent ones is that of Benjamin Franklin (now in the White House), painted in 1767.
• Martin exhibited at the Incorporated Society of Artists, at the Free Society of Artists and at the Royal Academy.
• He is listed in 1766 as a member of the Society for the Encouragement of the Arts, Manufactures and Commerce, as "History Painter, living in Soho Square".
• In 1785, Martin was appointed principal painter in Scotland to the Prince of Wales.
• Martin died in 1797 at his home, 4 St James Square, Edinburgh.
David Martin, Portrait of an Officer in Uniform, 1791
Original, Cantor Arts Center at Stanford University, California. Visited in 2022. 
David Martin, Portrait of an Officer in Uniform, 1791
David Martin, Portrait of an Officer in Uniform, 1791
David Martin, Sir Hector Munro, 1785
David Martin, Sir Hector Munro, 1785
