Henry Raeburn: Difference between revisions

▲Raeburn was born the son of a manufacturer in [[Stockbridge, Edinburgh|Stockbridge]], on the [[Water of Leith]]: a former village now within the city of [[Edinburgh]]. He had an older brother, born in 1744, called William Raeburn. His ancestors were believed to have been soldiers, and may have taken the name "Raeburn" from a hill farm in [[Annandale]], held by [[Sir Walter Scott]]'s family. Orphaned, he was supported by William and placed in [[Heriot's Hospital]], where he received an education. At the age of fifteen he was apprenticed to the [[goldsmith]] James Gilliland of Edinburgh, and various pieces of jewellery, mourning rings and the like, adorned with minute drawings on [[ivory]] by his hand, still exist. Soon he took to the production of carefully finished [[portrait miniature]]s; meeting with success and patronage, he extended his practice to oil painting, at which he was self-taught. Gilliland watched the progress of his pupil with interest, and introduced him to [[David Martin (artist)|David Martin]], who had been the favourite assistant of [[Allan Ramsay (artist)|Allan Ramsay the Latter]], and was now the leading portrait painter in Edinburgh. Raeburn was especially aided by the loan of portraits to copy. Soon he had gained sufficient skill to make him decide to devote himself exclusively to painting. George Chalmers (1776; Dunfermline Town Hall) is his earliest known portrait.

▲Examples of his earlier portraiture include a bust of Mrs Johnstone of Baldovie and a three-quarter-length of Dr [[James Hutton]]: works which, if somewhat timid and tentative in handling and not as confident as his later work, nevertheless have delicacy and character. The portraits of [[John Clerk, Lord Eldin]], and of Principal Hill of St Andrews belong to a later period. Raeburn was fortunate in the time in which he practised portraiture. Sir Walter Scott, [[Hugh Blair]], [[Henry Mackenzie]], [[Alexander Fraser Tytler|Lord Woodhouselee]], [[William Robertson (historian)|William Robertson]], [[John Home]], [[Robert Fergusson]], and [[Dugald Stewart]] were resident in Edinburgh, and were all painted by Raeburn. Mature works include his own portrait and that of the Rev. Sir Henry Moncrieff Wellwood, a bust of Dr Wardrop of Torbane Hill, two full-lengths of Adam Rolland of Gask, the remarkable paintings of Lord Newton and Dr [[Alexander Adam]] in the [[National Gallery of Scotland]], and that of William Macdonald of St Martin's. Apart from himself, Raeburn painted only two artists, one of whom was Sir Francis Leggatt Chantrey, the most important and famous British sculptor of the first half of the 19th century. It has recently been revealed that Raeburn and Chantrey were close friends and that Raeburn took exceptional care over the execution of his portrait of the sculptor, one of the painter's mature bust-length masterpieces.<ref name="David Wilson pp. 45">David Wilson, '‘Chantrey's solar face': An intriguing mystery about Raeburn's portraits of a great sculptor', ''The British Art Journal'', Vol. XIV, No. 3 [2013/14], pp. 45–57.</ref>

▲It was commonly believed that Raeburn was less successful in painting female portraits, but the exquisite full-length of his wife, the smaller likeness of Mrs R. Scott Moncrieff in the National Gallery of Scotland, and that of Mrs Robert Bell, and others, argue against this. Raeburn spent his life in Edinburgh, rarely visiting London, and then only for brief periods, thus preserving his individuality. Although he, personally, may have lost advantages resulting from closer association with the leaders of [[English art]], and from contact with a wider public, [[Scottish art]] gained much from his disinclination to leave his native land. He became the acknowledged chief of the school which was growing up in Scotland during the early 19th century, and his example and influence at a critical period were of major importance. So varied were his other interests that sitters used to say of him, "You would never take him for a painter till he seizes the brush and palette."

▲[[File:The Skating Minister.jpg|thumb|upright|''The Reverend Robert Walker Skating on Duddingston Loch'', better known as ''[[The Skating Minister]]'' (1790s)]]

▲In 1812 he was elected president of the [[Society of Artists of Great Britain|Society of Artists]] in Edinburgh; and in 1814 associate, and in the following year full member, of the [[Royal Scottish Academy]]. On 29 August 1822 he received a [[Knight Bachelor|knighthood]] during [[Visit_of_King_George_IV_to_Scotland|The visit of King George IV to Scotland]] and appointed His Majesty's [[Painter and Limner|limner]] for Scotland at the Earl of Hopetoun house.<ref>''[[The New Annual Register]]'', for year 1822, London, 1823, p. 166.</ref> He died in Edinburgh not long after on 8 July 1823.<ref>Memoirs of The Life of Sir Walter Scott. J G Lockhart p.130</ref>

▲Raeburn had all the essential qualities of a popular and successful portrait painter. He was able to produce a telling and forcible likeness; his work is distinguished by powerful characterisation, stark realism, dramatic and unusual lighting effects, and swift and broad handling of the most resolute sort. [[David Wilkie (artist)|David Wilkie]] recorded that, while travelling in Spain and studying the works of [[Diego Velázquez]], the brushwork reminded him constantly of the "square touch" of Raeburn.<ref>[[James Patrick Muirhead|Muirhead, James Patrick]] (1859). ''The Life of James Watt: With selections from his correspondence''. London: J. Murray. p. 519. {{OCLC|778040243}}</ref> Scottish physician and writer [[John Brown (doctor)|John Brown]] wrote that Raeburn "never fails in giving a likeness at once vivid, unmistakable and pleasing. He paints the truth, and he paints it with love".<ref name=":0">Coltman, 295</ref>