Description
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
59cm x 36cm (23in x 14in)
Footnote
The artist of the original, Richard Waitt (1708 - died 1733), which hangs in the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, has produced several portraits depicting individuals like this in their environment. Waitt left Scotland perhaps due to his Jacobite sympathies and the 1715 Jacobite Rising. When he returned in 1722 he resumed work for the Clan Grant based in Castle Grant, Strathspey.
This painting, a copy completed by Waitt's circle, was made shortly after the original. The subject Kenneth Duffus Earl of Sutherland (1679-1734) himself had Jacobite sympathies after initially supporting the Hanoverian succession and political union of 1707. He joined the Jacobite cause in 1715 but after the defeat at Sheriffmuir he escaped to Sweden where he married Charlotte Christina, daughter of Eric de Sioblade, the governor of Gottenburgh.
Whilst in Hamburgh, Duffus was forcibly removed and committed prisoner to the Tower in London. However in 1717 was set free without being brought to trial in an Act of Grace. Throughout Sutherland's life he pursued a Maritime career, after succeeding his father in 1705 he was a captain in Queen Anne's Navy. On return of his liberty he entered the Russian naval service, in which he was a flag-officer, and died before 1734.
His only son Eric Sutherland, (born in 1710) in 1734 presented a petition to the king claiming the dignity of baron Duffus, but the House of Lords, found that he had no right to it. The elder son of Eric, James Sutherland, born in 1747, was an officer in the army and was restored to the honours of his family, by act of parliament in 1826.
It is a portrait not only of the Earl of Sutherland, but also a portrayal of the wider highland aristocracy emphasising landed pursuits such as deer hunting and the fashion for wearing full highland dress. Depicted in martial pose, slashed jacket and a significant array of Scottish weapons, this is a good example of Highland aristocracy. In particular his belt pistol is of scroll butt type profusely inlaid with silver and typical of those made by Thomas Cadell of Doune in circa 1700. The basket hilt of his sword appears to be of silver and similar to the silver hilts made in the North East of Scotland at the time. The dirk is of early form with bi-knife and bi-fork sitting side by side in pouches on the scabbard. An impressive targe lies at the subject's feet with evidence of hair of the deer skin lined back in view. On top of this is a long gun typical of some made in England to highland specification.
This painting is a rare example of Scotland prior to the political upheavals caused by the Jacobite rebellions of the 18th century narrating how individual members of the elite were required to choose allegiances that would alter their inheritance and ultimately changed the landscape of Scotland.