Sir Henry Raeburn (1756-1823) is especially well known in Scotland as the portrait painter of members of the Scottish Enlightenment. This illustrated scholarly work is devoted to the reception and reputation of Edinburgh's premier Enlightenment portrait painter. It includes chapters that look at different aspects of Raeburn's professional career.
QUOTE FOR FRONT 'Consistently thought-provoking, original and revealing' Professor Mark Hallett, Director, Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art BACK COVER 'Fresh and engaging . . . a key strength of the book is that it ranges across a number of disciplinary approaches and beyond the normal conventions of history of art into political, economic, cultural and social history.' T. M. Devine, Personal Senior Professor in History, University of Edinburgh 'A very welcome reassessment of the artist's work and career. This skilfully edited book promises to transform the ways in which we think about Raeburn's paintings and about the worlds of portraiture in which he and his canvases played such a fascinating part.' Mark Hallett, Director, Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art The reception and reputation of Edinburgh's premier 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 portraiture studies. A review of the most recent (1997-8) exhibition in Edinburgh and London devoted to the artist noted that it wears the 'aspect of a closure rather than a new dawn' in Raeburn studies, with the painter being shown 'in solitary splendour'. This collection seeks to 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 Previously unpublished archival material is brought to light for the first time, including correspondence from the Innes of Stow papers and the family archive of the Duke of Hamilton. Viccy Coltman is Senior Lecturer and Head of History of Art in Edinburgh College of Art at the University of Edinburgh. She is the author of Fabricating the Antique: Neoclassicism in Britain, 1760-1800 (2006) and Classical Sculpture and the Culture of Collecting in Britain since 1760 (2009) and editor of Making Sense of Greek Art (2012). Stephen Lloyd is Curator of the Derby Collection at Knowsley Hall on Merseyside. He is former Senior Curator of the Scottish National Portrait Gallery (1993-2009) and President of ICOM's international committee for museums and collections of fine art (2005-10). He is the author of Richard and Maria Cosway: Regency Artists of Taste and Fashion (1995) and Raeburn's Rival: Archibald Skirving 1749-1819 (1999) and co-author with Kim Sloan of The Intimate Portrait: Drawings, Miniatures and Pastels from Ramsay to Lawrence (2008). Cover image: Henry Raeburn, General Francis Dundas and Eliza Cumming, Mrs Francis Dundas, c.1812-15, courtesy of the Dundas-Bekker family, Arniston House. Cover design: [EUP logo] www.euppublishing.com
