(c.1737 - 98), architect, s. of John Baxter, architect of Edinburgh.
1761 - 7 Leghorn, Rome (by Aug. 1761 - 7) [Scotland, by Feb. 1769]
Son of the builder of Penicuik House, John Baxter was sent to Rome to study architecture by Sir James Clerk of Penicuik, together with his brother Alexander. They arrived in Leghorn on the Groignard, and by August 1761 they were in Rome.1 Little is recorded of their stay. 'Mr Baxter Architct Scotland' was listed in Rome in 1762;2 the inscription Giovanni Baxter Architetto Scozzese Roma 24 di Marzo 1763 appears in an Italian translation of Seneca's Tragedies.3 In 1764 Baxter unsuccessfully entered an architectural design competition at the Accademia, Parma;4 his 'fine drawings' for the competition, 'being Plans, Elevations & Sections of the design for a Royal Sepulchral Chapel' were seen in his Rome studio by James Martin and James Byres on 27 October 1764, and Martin noted in the same house 'a young English painter who seems to be very clever at his Profession'.5 On 3 January 1765 Baxter wrote to his father from Rome, concerning copies of three ancient statues and a chimneypiece for Sir James Clerk.6 On 2 March 1766 Baxter was made an Honorary Member of the Accademia di S.Luca7 and in the same year he had some chimneypieces made in Rome to his designs, all subsequently 'broke in pieces in Carriage for Scotland'.8
A group portrait of 1767 (Vatican) shows Alexander and John Baxter with Alexander Runciman (another prot?g? of Sir James Clerk) and another artist (perhaps the young painter Martin had previously seen in his rooms); a sketch for this picture is in a private English collection. Baxter himself made a drawing of Alexander Runciman in Rome (SNG), the inscription saying it was used by J.T. Sergel as the source for a small relief sculpture. Baxter was back in Scotland by February 1769.9 His sale included designs for a 'Sepulchral Chapel', prints, drawings and antiquities (DBA).
1. Note by B. Skinner. 2. Hayward List, 12, 17. 3. Laing MSS, iv, 25. 4. Gazz.di Parma, 9 Feb. 1981. 5. Martin jnl. MSS (27, 30 Oct. 1764). 6. Clerk of Penicuik MSS. 7. ANSL 52, f.88. 8. Hayward List 13. 9. Ibid., 17.