Saturday, May 12, 2018

Sir Henry Raeburn

Henry Raeburn
Self-portrait
ca. 1815
oil on canvas
National Galleries of Scotland

Sir Henry Raeburn (1756-1823) – Originally apprenticed to a goldsmith in Edinburgh, Henry Raeburn showed enormous artistic talent as a young man.  In 1784 he moved to London where he met the important portrait painter Joshua Reynolds.  He spent some time in Italy but returned to Edinburgh in 1787 where he began painting portraits of the rich, famous and important people of his day.  He was in constant demand and received many honours: in 1822 he was knighted when the King visited Edinburgh.  Sir Henry Raeburn died a year later.

– biographical note from the National Galleries of Scotland (where more than eighty paintings by Raeburn are now preserved)

Henry Raeburn
Portrait of Sir John Sinclair, 1st Bart of Ulbster
wearing military uniform of his own design

ca. 1794-99
oil on canvas
National Galleries of Scotland

Henry Raeburn
Portrait of Niel Gow, fiddler and composer
1787
oil on canvas
National Galleries of Scotland

Henry Raeburn
Portrait of General Robert Melville, soldier and antiquary
ca. 1794-1800
oil on canvas
National Galleries of Scotland

Henry Raeburn
Portrait of George Lyon making a military drawing
1788
oil on canvas
National Galleries of Scotland

Henry Raeburn
Portrait of Professor Andrew Dalzel, classical scholar
ca. 1797-98
oil on canvas
National Galleries of Scotland

Henry Raeburn
Portrait of James Wauchope of Edmonstone
ca. 1787-90
oil on canvas
National Galleries of Scotland

Henry Raeburn
Portrait of David Hunter of Blackness
1788
oil on canvas
National Galleries of Scotland

Henry Raeburn
Portrait of William Glendonwyn
ca. 1795-1800
oil on canvas
Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge

Henry Raeburn
Portrait of Frances Harriet Wynne, Mrs Hamilton of Kames
ca. 1811
oil on canvas
National Galleries of Scotland

Henry Raeburn
Portrait of Justina Camilla Wynne, Mrs Alexander Finlay of Glencorse
ca. 1810
oil on canvas
National Galleries of Scotland

Henry Raeburn
Portrait of Margaritta Macdonald, Mrs Robert Scott-Moncrieff
ca. 1814
oil on canvas
National Galleries of Scotland

Henry Raeburn
Portrait of Margaret Scott of Logie, Mrs John Hope
ca. 1806
oil on canvas
National Galleries of Scotland

Henry Raeburn
Portrait of Fearne Gardiner, Mrs George Kinnear
ca. 1805
oil on canvas
National Galleries of Scotland

Henry Raeburn
Portrait of John Wilson, writer (nom de plume, Christopher North)
ca. 1805-10
oil on canvas
National Galleries of Scotland