Sir Henry Raeburn, R.A.

By descent in the sitter's family to Charles H. Holme, Eaglescarnie, Haddington;

By whom sold ("The Property of Charles H. Home, Esq., of Eaglescarnie, Haddington"), London, Sotheby's, 24 March 1920, lot 63;

With M. Knoedler & Co., London, by January 1926;

Anonymous sale, London, Sotheby's, 13 March 1985, lot 72;

Anonymous sale, New York, Sotheby's, 29 January 2010, lot 788;

Where acquired by the present collector.

D. Mackie, Raeburn, Life and Art: A Complete Catalogue of the Artist's Work, unpublished Ph.D. thesis, University of Edinburgh and Yale University 1994, vol. IV, p. 839, cat. no. 686

Charles Francis Stuart (1780-1858) was the fourth and youngest son of Alexander, 10th Lord Blantyre, and his wife Catherine, eldest daughter and heiress of Patrick Lindsay of Eaglescairnie. Stuart was called to the bar and served as Master of Chancery in India. The reverse of the present painting bears both Henry Raeburn's cipher as well as the sitter's initials. Also attached is a document with instructions from Stuart, dated 3 July 1822 and addressed to his banker James Dundas, to transfer £105 to the artist as payment. This sum accounts for the cost of two half-length portraits (priced at 50 guineas each): the present work and a pendant portrait of the sitter's brother, Lieutenant General William Stuart (sold Christie's New York, 8 June 2011, lot 78).