Sir Henry Raeburn is perhaps the best known of all Scottish painters. He was almost exclusively a portraitist and his career was wholly in Scotland, mainly in Edinburgh.
Apprenticed to a jeweller, it is not precisely known how Raeburn's attention turned to painting. His small full-length portrait of the Rev Robert Walker Skating on Duddingston Loch (Edinburgh, National Gallery of Scotland) of about 1784 is probably his most famous work. Raeburn was elected a member of the Royal Academy in London in 1815. In 1822 he was knighted by George IV and given the post of King's Limner in Scotland.
Sir Henry Raeburn
1756 - 1823
Paintings by Sir Henry Raeburn
‘The Archers’ is one of a small number of outstanding portraits from the early part of Raeburn’s career and was probably painted in about 1789 or 1790, when the subjects were in their late teens. Robert and Ronald Ferguson became members of the Royal Company of Archers in 1792 and 1801 respective...