SIR HENRY RAEBURN R.A. (SCOTTISH 1756-1823)
HALF-LENGTH PORTRAIT OF A LADY IN LACE BONNET
£13,000
Scottish Paintings & Sculpture
Auction: 6 December 2018 at 18:00 GMT
Description
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
89cm x 69cm (35in x 27in)
Footnote
Note: Half-length Portrait of a Lady in Lace Bonnet is a previously unrecorded portrait by Sir Henry Raeburn. From an early date in the artist's career, its recent re-discovery in a regional United States auction, represents a significant addition to the artist's known body of work.
The painting belongs to a group of Raeburn's works from 1791, which includes Lady Mackenzie of Coul, who sat to the artist in September 1791 (Mackie no. 499), Mrs John Cay of Charlton Hall (Tate Britain, Sir Otto Beit bequest, 1941; Mackie no. 145) and Lady Helen Hall and Miss Isabella Hall (both in private hands, Mackie nos. 357 and 358). For the Hall portraits, payment was made to Raeburn on 15 March 1791, and the receipt reveals that Raeburn's price for a portrait the size of the work offered here, was 12 guineas.
Half-length Portrait of a Lady in Lace Bonnet has features typical of Raeburn's handling in the early 1790s; from the confident sweeps of the brush to create folds of drapery from thick, liquid paint handled swiftly and with certainty, to the sharp focus on the sitter's eyes and her acute gaze, suggesting her psychological depth and emotions held in check, and the assured expression of her anatomy through suggestions of drapery. It is a beautiful example of Raeburn's mastery of the medium, even at an early date in his career.
At some point during the portrait's journey from Raeburn's studio in Edinburgh's George Street to America the sitter's name was lost. With the artist's unidentified paintings it is often difficult to establish their ownership histories and that is true in this instance. Most probably, the portrait passed through the London and New York art markets in the early twentieth century, when Raeburn was an artist of considerable popularity and whose works regularly achieved extraordinary prices at auction. The painting's frame is likely to be original and appears to be in the manner of the frame-maker James Liddle, who framed for Raeburn from 1790 to 1798.
Lyon & Turnbull are grateful to Dr David Mackie of St Catharine's College, University of Cambridge, for assistance in cataloguing this lot, after first-hand examination. The painting will be included in Dr Mackie's 'Complete Catalogue of Raeburn,' to be published by the Paul Mellon Centre/Yale University Press, which is currently at the editing stage.