A Remarkably Preserved Masterpiece by Henry Raeburn

The present work is one of the best-preserved examples of Sir Henry Raeburn’s work to appear on the market in recent years and, until only recently, was unknown to scholars. Its reemergence is a refreshing reminder of the artist’s idiosyncratic style of painting, the virtuosity of which can be properly admired given its near-pristine state.

The late-Georgian period witnessed a cluster of great portrait painters who, each in their distinct way, captured the great and the glamorous of the period. In London, Thomas Gainsborough and Joshua Reynolds laid the foundations for a style of portrait painting that fused lyricism and grandeur, prioritising – especially in their later works – movement and posture. Raeburn, however, pursued a different approach, focusing more directly on the character of his subjects, foregrounded through a clever use of colour, lighting, and more natural poses. Although adaptable – indeed some of his most successful works are large-scale ambitious portraits showing figures out of doors – Raeburn’s success lay in the type of quiet sophistication epitomised in the present work.

Henry Raeburn (1756-1823)
Portrait of a Naval Officer, possibly Admiral Sir Houston Stewart (1791-1875), when Lieutenant, c. 1810-15