Details

Object type

painting

Title

The MacNab

Artist/Maker

Henry Raeburn

Culture/School

Scottish

Place Associated

Scotland, Perthshire (place associated)

Date

circa 1810

Materials

oil on canvas

Dimensions

overall: 2845 x 1968 mm; framed: 2864 x 1953 mm

Description

In this highly romanticised portrait, Francis MacNab, twelfth Laird of MacNab, appears full-length in an impressive interpretation of Highland dress. He is depicted wearing a mix of both civilian and military styles demonstrated in the portrait by the military feathered bonnet and short kilt of MacNab tartan. An imposing figure standing at 6 foot 3 inches, he wears a green military jacket decorated with silver braid over a high-collared, red and green, bias-cut tartan waistcoat. In addition, he appears to be wearing a plaid over his shoulder, tartan stockings and a badger-head sporran. He is armed with a dirk, broadsword and pistol.

Francis Macnab, was a Major, commissioned in 1803, in the 1st Battalion (or Breadalbane Highlanders), 2nd Royal Perthshire Brigade, otherwise known as the Breadalbane Volunteers. Although his dress is historically inaccurate in terms of Highland military uniform, this portrait represents the romanticised notion of the Highland soldier during the early 19th century. By 1815, Highland soldiers were widely celebrated as romantic icons of the British army with a reputation for bravery and sacrifice. Through this romanticised image, the Highland soldier brought tartan clothing into the public sphere. Aided by the evocative poetry and novels of Sir Walter Scott, by the early 19th century, civilians had started to incorporate Highland influences such as tartan into their everyday fashions.

The popularity for Highland portraits reached a peak in the 18th and early 19th centuries. Often, they were commissioned to represent political identity. However, in some cases, patrons simply wanted to show off both their wealth and national lineage in impressive full Highland costume. Artists may also have been seduced by the glamour of Highland dress, as paintings were often composed in a very theatrical manner as is portrayed in this painting by Scottish portraitist Henry Raeburn. Heightened in drama by the low viewpoint, Francis MacNab stands centre stage posing in the guise of a young warrior against a spectacular Highland landscape of bleak mountaintops.

With a reputation for being one of Scotland’s most notorious chiefs, Francis lived excessively enjoying drinking, gambling and womanising. He was said to have frittered away what was left of the MacNab fortunes and estate, fathering at least 32 children. He passed away owing debts of around £35,000. After his death in 1816, Francis’s son Archibald MacNab, was left with the debt. Unfortunately, Archibald fell victim to the same vices as his father and in 1822 he fled from his creditors to avoid imprisonment and emigrated to Canada.

ID Number

LI.2005.010.1

Location

Kelvingrove Scottish Identity