Details

Object type

painting

Title

Robert N Campbell of Kailzie, circa 1761-1845

Artist/Maker

Henry Raeburn artist

Culture/School

Scottish

Date

circa 1776-1823

Materials

oil on canvas

Dimensions

unframed: 762 mm x 635 mm

Description

This picture was painted by Henry Raeburn, prominent Edinburgh-based portraitist of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. He painted many members of the Scottish elite, to which Robert Campbell of Kailzie, sitter of this portrait, belonged.

Twenty-one portraits of the Campbell family members were bequeathed to Glasgow in 1917 by a descendant, Isabella Campbell, including this one and the well-known double portrait of Mr and Mrs Robert Campbell of Kailzie, also painted by Raeburn. The latter depicts the same sitter with his wife Margaret, when they were younger, walking arm-in-arm on their estate. They acquired the estate of Kailzie in Peebleshire in 1794 and it stayed in the family until 1841.

The double portrait was most likely painted in the first decade of the 19th century, but this single portrait was painted substantially later, when Robert Campbell was an older man. It is an example of the late style of Raeburn, probably painted in the second decade of the century or shortly before his death in 1823. Using a formula often repeated to depict his male sitters, Raeburn placed Robert Campbell against a plain background. His face stands out, looking toward the viewer, while his body is slightly turned to the left. The focus is on his head, and by extension, on his individuality and character.

See also Legacies of Slavery – Robert Nutter Campbell, country gent and slave owner

Credit Line/Donor

Bequeathed by Isabella A H J Campbell, 1917

ID Number

1424

Location

In storage