A Long-Lost Henry Raeburn Painting Goes on View in Scotland

A long-lost portrait of Robert Burns by Sir Henry Raeburn is now on display at the National Gallery of Scotland in Edinburgh. The painting was discovered at a London house auction last year.

Scotland’s most famous bard, Robert Burns (1759-1796), is perhaps best known for his songs “A Red, Red Rose” (1794) and “Auld Lang Syne” (1788), which he adapted from traditional Scottish ballads. Although they lived on the same street, Burns appears to have never met his contemporary, the Scottish portrait painter Sir Henry Raeburn (1756-1823). But we know from Rayburn’s letters that seven years after Burns’ death, Rayburn copied Alexander Nasmyth’s 1787 painting of him.

This copy was commissioned by the London publisher Cadell & Davies to serve as the frontispiece to a new edition of Burns’s work. However, soon after the painting was completed, it disappeared.

Rayburn’s work resurfaced during last year’s UK house clearing. It was consigned to Wimbledon Auction House in London for sale “in the manner of Sir Henry Raeburn” with an estimated price of £300 to £500. After nine minutes of bidding, the painting sold for £68,000 ($92,000) to William Zachs, an Edinburgh art collector and director of the Blackie House Library and Museum.

After restoration, the painting was taken to Scotland, where experts confirmed it was an original by Rayburn. As noted on the National Galleries of Scotland blog, this work is not just a copy of an earlier original but a masterpiece in its own right, with Dr Duncan Thomson, former director of the National Portrait Gallery of Scotland, commenting: “[the] Stunningly fresh observations mark Rayburn’s best work.

The painting now hangs next to Nasmyth’s portrait in the National Gallery of Scotland, just in time for Burns’ birthday to be celebrated in Scotland every January 25.