Overview
- The portrait is on display at the National Galleries of Scotland ahead of Burns Night, shown alongside Alexander Nasmyth’s 1787 life portrait.
- The work resurfaced during a house clearance in Surrey and was auctioned in Wimbledon in March 2025, where collector William Zachs acquired it.
- Following cleaning and examination, conservators and curators concluded the canvas is an original by Sir Henry Raeburn.
- Raeburn painted the work in 1803 for publishers Cadell & Davies as the basis for an engraving derived from Nasmyth’s earlier image.
- The picture is on loan for public viewing now and is scheduled to move to the Robert Burns Birthplace Museum in Alloway from July 21, 2026.