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| Alexander Maconochie (1777–1861) of Meadowbank |
Artist:Sir Henry Raeburn (British, Stockbridge, Scotland 1756–1823 Edinburgh, Scotland)
Medium:Oil on canvas
Dimensions:30 1/4 x 25 in. (76.8 x 63.5 cm)
Classification:Paintings
Credit Line:Gift of William P. Clyde, 1960
Accession Number:60.94.1
Catalogue Entry
Alexander Maconochie was the eldest son of an eminent Scottish judge, Allan Maconochie, first Lord Meadowbank, of Meadowbank, Midlothian, and his wife, Elizabeth, daughter of Robert Welwood of Garvock and Pitliver, Fife. In 1805 he married Anne, eldest daughter of Robert Blair of Avontoun, West Lothian, who was also a judge. The couple had ten children. The sitter was admitted an advocate in 1799 and succeeded as lord advocate in 1816; in 1819 he took his seat on the bench as a Lord of Session. He was a politician and a member of Parliament for two constituencies, Yarmouth in the Isle of Wight (1817–18) and the Anstruther district, a burgh in Fife (1818–19). In 1854 he succeeded to the entailed estate of Garvock and Pitliver and assumed the additional name of Welwood.
Reportedly, Maconochie sat for this portrait in 1816 at the age of thirty-nine; it was engraved in mezzotint by T. Dick in 1839. The work is in good state but somewhat discolored. The eyes were scratched at some time in the past, and the pupils were repainted. Maconochie's father and mother also sat for Raeburn (Scottish National Portrait Gallery and private collection, respectively).
[2010; adapted from Baetjer 2009]
Copyright Image
https://images.metmuseum.org
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