Raeburn, Sir Henry

Raeburn, Sir Henry (b Stockbridge [now a district of Edinburgh], 4 Mar. 1756; d Edinburgh, 8 July 1823).
The leading Scottish portrait painter of his period, active mainly in Edinburgh. On leaving school he was apprenticed to a goldsmith and he appears to have been largely self-taught as a painter. In 1784–6 he visited Italy (going via London, where he is said to have met Reynolds), but his distinctive style was already formed by this time—one of his finest works, the Revd Robert Walker Skating (NG, Edinburgh), is traditionally said to date from 1784. He painted directly on to the canvas without preliminary drawings, and his vigorous, bold handling—sometimes called his ‘square touch’—could be extraordinarily effective in conveying the character of rugged Highland chiefs or bluff legal worthies. He also had a penchant for vivid and original lighting effects (William Glendonwyn, c.1795, Fitzwilliam Mus., Cambridge) and could be remarkably sensitive when painting women (Isabella McLeod, Mrs James Gregory, c.1798, Fyvie Castle, Aberdeenshire, NT). At times, however, his technical facility degenerated into empty virtuosity. In 1822, on the occasion of George IV's visit to Edinburgh, he was knighted and appointed His Majesty's Limner for Scotland. Since he had all the sitters he needed in Scotland, there was no need for him to compete with Lawrence and Hoppner in London (although he did consider moving there after Hoppner's death in 1810), and in the history of British portraiture he is an isolated and perhaps underrated figure.