This is a landscape painting by John Guthrie Spence Smith, RSA. The subject is a mill, possibly Preston Mill near East Linton. However, it could be one of a number of similar small scale rural mills - this style was a typical East Lothian installation.

Harled and pantiled mill buildings, including a circular kiln, were a characteristic feature of East Lothian's rural areas. Only Preston Mill survived to the end of the 20th century. It is close to East Linton, which was noted for its resident and visiting artists, so it is the likeliest identification of this work.

In common with many large public organisations, East Lothian Council has accumulated a variety of works of art by donation, purchase and inheritance from its predecessor bodies. Landscape works, of which this is one, that record and interpret aspects of East Lothian feature strongly within the collection.