A long-lost portrait of Scotland's national poet Robert Burns has gone on public display for the first time in more than 200 years. The painting by Sir Henry Raeburn surfaced during a house clearout in Surrey last March and now hangs at National Galleries Scotland ahead of Burns Night on January 25.
The portrait disappeared shortly after Raeburn completed it in 1803. Its whereabouts remained a mystery for over two centuries until the chance discovery during a routine house clearing.
William Zachs, a Burns enthusiast and director of Blackie House Library and Museum in Edinburgh, purchased the painting for £84,320 at a London auction. He loaned it for public exhibition. «This week at Burns suppers in Scotland and around the world we toast the immortal memory of the poet», Zachs said. «Now we have a new immortal visual memory – a once lost painting by Sir Henry Raeburn, the Scottish great portrait artist, that depicts Robert Burns not just as a genius poet but as a celebrated (and handsome) Scotsman whose significance would endure 'till a' the seas gang dry'.»
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Duncan Thomson, former keeper of the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, called the rediscovery enormously significant. «The rediscovery of this portrait of Burns, after having disappeared for 200 years, is of enormous significance, linking the poet with Scotland's greatest artist», he said.
Thomson noted that although Raeburn worked from an earlier 1787 painting by Alexander Nasmyth, the portrait shows remarkable freshness. «It is more than likely that Raeburn had seen Burns in his heyday in Edinburgh a decade earlier and had observed that glowing eye that had so impressed the young Walter Scott», he explained. «The result is a portrait that speaks in an entirely new way of the warmth, the sensuality and the profound intelligence that we find in Burns's poetry.»
Lesley Stevenson, senior conservator of paintings at National Galleries Scotland, praised the technical execution. «Raeburn's expressive, seemingly effortless brushwork, the characteristic warm palette, soft, atmospheric lighting and sensitive rendering of the instantly recognisable Robert Burns are a joy», she said. «This is a significant discovery and one we can all celebrate.»
The portrait underwent cleaning and professional examination after its discovery to confirm its authenticity. Raeburn served as King George IV's own painter and ranks among Scotland's greatest portrait artists.
From July 21, the painting will move to the Robert Burns Birthplace Museum in Alloway, South Ayrshire.
Note: This article was created with Artificial Intelligence (AI).
