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| William Scott-Elliot of Arkleton (1811–1901) |
Artist:Sir Henry Raeburn (British, Stockbridge, Scotland 1756–1823 Edinburgh, Scotland)
Date:ca. 1815–16
Medium:Oil on canvas
Dimensions:47 3/8 x 36 5/8 in. (120.3 x 93 cm)
Classification:Paintings
Credit Line:Fletcher Fund, 1945
The sitter, whose family were neighbors of the artist in Edinburgh, modelled for Raeburn at the painter's request. The portrait remained in the possession of the Raeburn family until 1877.
Catalogue Entry
William Scott-Elliot's parents, Margaret Elliot of Arkleton and Adam Scott, married in 1807, at which time his father assumed the Elliot surname. They were Raeburn's neighbors in Edinburgh, and their only son remembered that he sat for his portrait at the artist’s request. The boy, born on March 22, 1811, was probably four or five years old at the time. This engaging portrait, twice exhibited by Raeburn, remained with the artist’s family until the 1877 sale, when it was bought for the sitter.
In the 1920s, the costume was described as a pink or rose smock over short trousers of the same color (1927 sale catalogue and Brandus 1928), and some evidence of the color remains, particularly in the shadows. Such a change, to a muddy neutral tone that Raeburn cannot have intended, may be accounted for by fading of what must have been red lake glazing.
[2010; adapted from Baetjer 2009]
Provenance
the artist, Edinburgh (until d. 1823); Raeburn family, Edinburgh (1823–77; their sale, Christie's, London, May 7, 1877, no. 32, as "Study of a Child," for 240 gns., on behalf of the sitter); the sitter, William Scott-Elliot of Arkleton, Langholm (1877–d. 1901); his grandson, Walter Travers Scott-Elliot of Arkleton (1901–27; sale, Sotheby's, London, May 12, 1927, no. 87, for £12,600 to Gooden & Fox); [Gooden & Fox, London, 1927]; [Duveen, London, 1927; sold for $150,000 to Bache]; Jules S. Bache, New York (1927–d. 1944; Bache Foundation, 1944–45; cats., 1929, unnumbered; 1937, no. 59; 1943, no. 58; sold to MMA)
Copyright Image
https://images.metmuseum.org
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