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c. 1840, oil on canvas, 68.6 x 121.9 cm

The viewpoint in this painting shows Alloa from the north-west, with the River Forth in the background. The town is shown in detail, with many significant buildings being easily recognised: these include (from left to right), Alloa Academy (1824); Infant School (1839); Meadow Brewery (c.1764); tower of the Old Kirk (1680); new parish church of St Mungo (1819); and the Grange Distillery (1795). Beyond the distillery are the brick cone furnaces of Alloa Glass Works, founded c1750 and working as United Glass today, the oldest glassworks in Europe still operating on its original site. The presence or absence of particular buildings and the dress of the female figures suggest that the work was painted c.1840. It is an interesting and important record of Alloa in the early days of its development as one of Britain’s first industrial towns, with major wool-spinning, ceramics, brewing and shipbuilding works, and before the advent of the railway in 1850.

The painting has been attributed to either John Fleming (1794–1845), who lived and worked as a portrait and landscape painter in Greenock for most of his life or to John Heaviside Clark (1770–1863). Born in Edinburgh, Clark worked in London from 1802 as a landscape painter and book illustrator, and died in Edinburgh. Both men produced paintings for later reproduction as prints; in 1825 Clark prepared views of the principal towns in Scotland; it is not known if Alloa was included. This painting seems a bit different from the styles of each artist and it may turn out to be by an entirely different artist.

The painting was acquired by Clackmannanshire Council with a contribution from the National Art Collections Fund and additional support from the National Fund for Acquisitions administered with Government funds by the National Museums of Scotland, and the Friends of Clackmannanshire Council Museum and Heritage Service.