Portrait of Lady Abercromby
Although London was the center of the British art world, Henry Raeburn chose to work in Scotland, and he achieved great success painting portraits of the local aristocracy and landowners. Here he depicted Lady Jane Ogilvy Abercromby of Forglen House, in northeastern Scotland.
Raeburn painted his vigorous, bold, and spontaneous portraits with a wide brush. He conveyed Abercromby’s high white collar, turban, and wisps of hair loosely in thin, sketchy paint accented with thicker highlights.
Private Collection, Kansas City, MO [1];
With Yunt Art Galleries, Kansas City, MO, by April 17, 1930;
Purchased from Yunt Art Galleries by The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 1930.
NOTES:
[1] See letter from E.J. to William J. Abercrombie, November 25, 1938, NAMA curatorial files.
Sir Walter Armstrong, Sir Henry Raeburn (London: William Heinemann, 1901), as Abercromby, Lady, née Hon. Jane Ogilvie, daughter of Lord Banff.
Edward Pinnington, Sir Henry Raeburn, R.A (London: The Walter Scott Publishing Company, 1904), 217, as Abercromby, Lady.
James Greig, Sir Henry Raeburn, R.A.: His Life and Works with a Catalogue of His Pictures (London: The Connoisseur, 1911), 37, as Lady Abercromby.
“Rotogravure Section,” Kansas City Star (April 20, 1930), (repro).
“The William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art, Kansas City Special Number,” The Art News 32, no. 10 (December 9, 1933): 28, Portrait of Lady Abercromby.
The William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, The William Rockhill Nelson Collection, 2nd ed. (Kansas City, MO: William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, 1941), 67, as Lady Abercromby.
Possibly Raeburn: Bi-Centenary Exhibition, exh. cat. (Edinburgh: National Gallery of Scotland, 1956).
John D. Morse, Old Master Paintings in North America: Over 3000 Masterpieces by 50 Great Artists (New York: Abbeville Press, 1979), 220, as Portrait of Lady Abercromby.
