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Henry Raeburn

Portrait of Robert Sym

Maker

Henry Raeburn (British, 1756-1823)

Title

Portrait of Robert Sym

Year

ca. 1810

Medium

  • Oil on canvas

Materials/Techniques

Techniques

  • Oil on canvas

Materials

oil paint

Supports

  • canvas

Geography

Place Made: England

Dimensions

76.2 x 63.5 cm (30 x 25 inches)

Credit / Object Number

Credit

Gift of Mrs. Murray S. Danforth

Object Number

35.270

Type

  • Paintings

Publications

  • Books

European Paintings and Sculpture, ca. 1770 - 1937

  • Books

The Lucy Truman Aldrich Collection of European Porcelain Figures of the Eighteenth Century

Exhibition History

From the Reserve I
Paintings of Quality from the Museum's Collection
Apr 09, 1994 – Aug 03, 1994

Label copy

Raeburn was the leading portrait painter in Scotland in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. A self-trained artist, Raeburn was described by Robert Louis Stevenson as "a born painter of portraits. He looked people shrewdly between the eyes, surmised their manners in their face, and had possessed himself of what was essential in their character before they had been many minutes in his studio. What he was so swift to perceive, he conveyed to the canvas almost in the moment of conception. " The sitter of this portrait is Robert Sym (1752-1845), a gentleman of independent means and "writer to the signet" (lawyer) from Edinburgh.

Related Objects

No Image Available

Robert Charles Bell

Portrait of Robert Sym

More objects +

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Public Domain This object is in the Public Domain and available under a CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication

Tombstone

Henry Raeburn (British, 1756-1823)
Portrait of Robert Sym, ca. 1810
oil on canvas
76.2 x 63.5 cm (30 x 25 inches)
Gift of Mrs. Murray S. Danforth 35.270

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