Henry Raeburn: Context, Reception and Reputation

This is the first illustrated scholarly work devoted to the reception and reputation of Edinburgh’s premier Enlightenment portrait painter. Sir Henry Raeburn (1756-1823) is especially well known in Scotland as the portrait painter of members of the Scottish Enlightenment. However, outside Scotland, the artist rarely makes more than a fleeting appearance in survey books about portraiture. Ten international scholars recover Raeburn from his artistic isolation by looking at his local and international reception and reputation, both in his lifetime and posthumously. It focuses as much on Edinburgh and Scotland as on metropolitan markets and cosmopolitan contexts. Previously unpublished archival material is brought to light for the first time, especially from the Innes of Stow papers and the archives of the dukes of Hamilton. It features 14 chapters, each looking at different aspects of Raeburn’s professional career. There are international scholars contributing to Raeburn studies for the first time. It offers interdisciplinary perspectives setting a new agenda for Raeburn studies. It has traditional art analysis integrated with cultural, social, political and economic history.It includes much unpublished archival material.