1814, Sir Henry Raeburn, Margaritta Macdonald, Mrs Robert Scott Moncrieff -- National Gallery of Scotland (Edinburgh)
From the museum label: Margaritta or Margaret Macdonald was the wife of an Edinburgh wine merchant and friend of Sir Walter Scott, Robert Scott Moncrieff (later Moncrieff Wellwood). Surviving his wife by thirty years, he never remarried and hung her portrait permanently in his dining-room. After Raeburn decided against a possible career move to London in 1810, his style evolved again under the influence of Rembrandt and, conceivably in this case, the portraiture of Sir Thomas Lawrence. One of Raeburn's best-loved portraits, its heightened romanticism, sensibility and sensuality have endowed it with truly iconic status.
1814, Sir Henry Raeburn, Margaritta Macdonald, Mrs Robert Scott Moncrieff -- National Gallery of Scotland (Edinburgh)
From the museum label: Margaritta or Margaret Macdonald was the wife of an Edinburgh wine merchant and friend of Sir Walter Scott, Robert Scott Moncrieff (later Moncrieff Wellwood). Surviving his wife by thirty years, he never remarried and hung her portrait permanently in his dining-room. After Raeburn decided against a possible career move to London in 1810, his style evolved again under the influence of Rembrandt and, conceivably in this case, the portraiture of Sir Thomas Lawrence. One of Raeburn's best-loved portraits, its heightened romanticism, sensibility and sensuality have endowed it with truly iconic status.