ed him. It is unnecessary, as it
would be unjust, to insinuate that the future President of the Royal
Academy had ulterior and personal motives in urging him to rest content
with his supremacy in the North. Raeburn was fifty-five at the time,
and, after his undisputed reign at home, even his generous nature might
have taken ill with the competition inseparable from such a venture.
Lawrence's advice was wise in many ways, and Raeburn, secure in the
admiration and constant patronage of his countrymen, lived his life to
the end unvexed by the petty jealousy of inferior rivals. Nor was
recognition confined to Scotland. Ultimately he was elected a member
of the Royal Academy, an honour all the more valued because
unsolicited. Yet, had the courtly Lawrence but known, acceptance of
his advice kept a greater than himself from London, and, it may be,
prevented the perpetuation and further development of that tradition of
noble portraiture of which Raeburn, with personal modifications, was
such a master. For long also it confined the Scottish painter's
reputation to his own country. Forty years after his death, his art
was so little known in England that the Redgraves, in their admirable
history of English painting, relegated him to a chapter headed "The
Contemporaries of Lawrence." Time brings its revenges, however, and of
late years Raeburn has taken a place in the very front rank of British
painters. And, if this recognition has been given tardily by English
critics, the reason is to be found in want of acquaintance with his
work. He had lived and painted solely in Scotland, and Scottish art,
like foreign art, so long as it remains at home, has little interest
for London, which, sure of its attractive power, sits arrogantly still
till art is brought to it. But Raeburn's work possesses that inherent
power, which, seen by comprehending eyes, compels admiration. The
Raeburn exhibition held in Edinburgh in 1876 was quite local in its
influence, but from time to time since then, at "The Old Masters" and
elsewhere, admirable examples have been shown in London; and recent
loan collections in Glasgow and Edinburgh, wherein his achievement was
very fully illustrated, were seen by large and cosmopolitan audiences.
And the better his work has become known, the more has it been
appreciated. Collectors and galleries at home and abroad are now
anxious to secure examples; dealers are as alert to buy as they are
keen to sell; pric