Henry Raeburn
Context, Reception and Reputation
Published on 6. December 2012
Book
Hardback
352 pages
978-0-7486-5484-0 (ISBN)
Description
An edited volume devoted to the reception and reputation of Edinburgh's premier Enlightenment 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 survey books about portraiture. A review of the most recent exhibition devoted to the artist held in Edinburgh and London during 1997/8, 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 volume 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 Previously unpublished archival material will be brought to light for the first time, especially from the Innes of Stow papers and the archives of the dukes of Hamilton.
Key Features
* 14 chapters each looking at different aspects of Raeburn's professional career
* International scholars contributing to Raeburn studies for the first time
* Interdisciplinary perspectives setting a new agenda for Raeburn studies
* Traditional art analysis integrated with cultural, social, political and economic history
* Includes much unpublished archival material
KeywordsScotland, Raeburn, Enlightenment, portraiture, art, patronage, taste, collecting
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 survey books about portraiture. A review of the most recent exhibition devoted to the artist held in Edinburgh and London during 1997/8, 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 volume 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 Previously unpublished archival material will be brought to light for the first time, especially from the Innes of Stow papers and the archives of the dukes of Hamilton.
Key Features
* 14 chapters each looking at different aspects of Raeburn's professional career
* International scholars contributing to Raeburn studies for the first time
* Interdisciplinary perspectives setting a new agenda for Raeburn studies
* Traditional art analysis integrated with cultural, social, political and economic history
* Includes much unpublished archival material
KeywordsScotland, Raeburn, Enlightenment, portraiture, art, patronage, taste, collecting
Reviews / Votes
Offers great insight into a remarkable artist who holds a unique position in the canon of Scotland's best loved painters. -- Helen Dyson * Art Scottish Art News * 'Overall, these essays offer thoughtful and often provocative assessments of Raeburn's art, the context of his times and his place in British cultural history. They attest to the current vitality of Raeburn studies-scholarship soon to be augmented by a modern, full-scale catalogue of Raeburn's paintings.' -- William S. Rodner, Department of History, Old Dominion University * Journal of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland * This fresh and engaging volume is certain to stir new interest in the works of Sir Henry Raeburn, the great portrait painter of the age of the Scottish Enlightenment. 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, thus ensuring appeal to a wide readership as well as successfully setting Raeburn within a national and international context.Professor Tom Devine, Personal Senior Professor in History, University of EdinburghHenry Raeburn: context, reception and reputation' provides a stimulating set of perspectives on one of the most interesting artists of late Georgian Britain. The essays gathered here, written by a group of distinguished academics, curators and independent scholars, are consistently thought-provoking, original and revealing, and collectively constitute 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.Professor Mark Hallett, Head of History of Art at York University -- Professor Tom Devine * Personal Senior Professor in History, University of Edinburgh * Viccy Coltman and Lloyd, together with their fellow contributors, are to be congratulated on this well-balanced assemblage of rewarding and stimulating texts, which enormously widen and enhance our understanding of Raeburn. -- Richard Green * The Burlington Magazine *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Edinburgh
United Kingdom
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Illustrations
70 colour illustrations
Dimensions
Height: 244 mm
Width: 172 mm
Weight
1172 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-7486-5484-0 (9780748654840)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Dr Viccy Coltman is a Senior Lecturer and Head of History of Art at the University of Edinburgh, where she specialises in visual and material culture in the long eighteenth century. The author of two books and one edited book, she is currently working on a study of Scots in metropolitan, cosmopolitan and imperial contexts from 1745 to 1832. Dr Stephen Lloyd is Curator of the Derby Collection at Knowsley Hall on Merseyside. He was Senior Curator at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, Edinburgh (1993-2009) and President of ICOM's International Committee for Museums and Collections of Fine Arts (2004-2010). He has authored many exhibition catalogues for the National Galleries of Scotland, is co-author of Henry Raeburn and his Printmakers (2006) and The Intimate Portrait: Portrait Drawings, Miniatures and Pastels fromRamsay to Lawrence (2008-9).
Content
FOREWORD; Viccy Coltman and Stephen Lloyd; ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS; INTRODUCTION; 'Indiscriminate praise is little better than censure': critical contexts for understanding Raeburn's portraiture, Stephen Lloyd; PART I: CONTEXT; 'I cannot coin money for them': Raeburn in the nexus of patronage, the art market and global trade, Stephen Lloyd; Scotland's Canova and the immortal Raeburn, Helen E. Smailes; Raeburn's John Hope, 4th Earl of Hopetoun: the 'knotty' business of portrait painting in London and Edinburgh in the 1810s, Viccy Coltman; In the shadow of Napoleon: the 10th Duke of Hamilton and Raeburn, Godfrey Evans; Raeburn and the print culture of Edinburgh c.1790-1830: constructing enlightened and national identities, Stana Nenadic; PART II: RECEPTION; A portrait of the artist in London: the critical reception of Raeburn's Royal Academy exhibits, 1792-1823, Nicholas Tromans; The critique of the modern French school of painting from Reynolds to Constable, Philippe Bordes; Raeburn in America: Scottish-American art networks, 1791-1845, Robyn Asleson; Raeburn and Goya: the redefinition of artistic personality, Sarah Symmons; PART III: REPUTATION; Allan Cunningham's presentation of Henry Raeburn as a model Scottish gentleman in artistic practice, Matthew Craske; Synonymous with manly portraits: re-evaluating Raeburn's women, Jordan Mearns; Raeburn in France, Olivier Meslay; Raeburn and the revival of mezzotint portraiture, 1890-1930, David Alexander; List of Illustrations; Select Bibliography; Notes on Contributors; Index.