Henry Raeburn Biography

Painter (1756–1823)

Sir Henry Raeburn was a Scottish painter known for his full-scale portraiture from the late 18th to early 19th century.

Synopsis

Sir Henry Raeburn was a Scottish painter and important member of Edinburgh society from the late 18th to early 19th century. In 1771, he apprenticed a goldsmith and in 1775 studied briefly with an Edinburgh protrait painter. He soon began his own work, starting with miniature painting and progressing to full-scale portraits. His earlist known work, a portrait of George Chalmers (1776) suggested his lack of formal training through its incorrect perspective. By the late 1790s his skill had improved immensely and he produced his most famous work, a portrait of Sir John Sinclair, in 1794. In 1812 he was elected president of the Edinburgh Society of Artists and was knighted in 1822.