Henry Raeburn
Henry Raeburn, a self-taught Scottish painter, presents a master class in Romantic era portrait painting with The Allen Brothers (Portrait of James and John Lee Allen). This double portrait gives us an older brother in profile and a younger brother looking out at us, in contrasting poses and activity. We get a sense of their youthful energies contained in this moment; they seem ready for an adventure. They may be playing a jousting game (or just poking an old hat with a stick), yet they are formally dressed and carefully posed. One brother stands while the other straddles the arm of a bench. The focus is firmly on the boys and yet the sky, setting, and bench are carefully painted with rich colors and broad strokes.
Raeburn started out as an apprentice goldsmith in Edinburgh at the age of fifteen and then followed his talent to portrait miniatures in the 1760s. This led him by extension to full-scale oil painting, where his homegrown talent was recognized and rewarded. He married well and his change in financial security allowed him to meet with Sir Joshua Reynolds, then president of the Royal Academy in London, and to travel to Italy to study the great artists of the past. He returned to Scotland and enjoyed a long career as a portrait painter. Working only from life (he did not believe in preliminary sketches) he was able to capture the character of his sitters. His handling of color and light are innovative and imaginative. Raeburn’s skill as a miniaturist prepared him well for his career in larger formats.
- Brad Allen