to revert to the more abbreviated modelling and broader
execution which have been noted as characteristic of his pre-Roman
style. The execution, however, is now much more confident and
masterly, the draughtsmanship better, the design, while exceedingly
simple, less stiff and more closely knit. Using pigment of very fluid
consistency and never loading the lights, though following the
traditional method of thick in the lights and thin in the shadows, his
handling is exceedingly direct and spontaneous, his touch fearless and
broad yet thoroughly under control, his drawing summary yet selective
and so expressive that, even in faces where the lighting is so broad
that there is little shadow to mark the features and little modelling
to explain the planes, the large structure of the head and the
essentials of likeness are rendered in a very satisfying and convincing
way. His colour, however, if losing the inclination to the rather dull
grey-greenness which had prevailed before 1785, remained somewhat cold
and wanting in quality, and the more forcible tints introduced in the
draperies were frequently lacking in modulation and were not quite in
harmony with the prevailing tone. Something of this deficiency in
fusion is also noticeable in his flesh tints, the carnations of the
complexions being somewhat detached owing to defective gradation where
the pinks join the whites. As experience came, Raeburn advanced from
the somewhat starved quality of pigment, which in his earlier pictures
was accentuated by his broad manner of handling, until in many of the
pictures painted during the later nineties he attained extraordinary
{63} power of expression by vigorous and incisive use of square
brush-work and full yet fluid and unloaded impasto. This method with
its sharply struck touches and simplified planes reaches its climax
perhaps in the striking portrait (1798 circa) of Professor Robison in
white night-cap and red-striped dressing-gown, though the more fused
manner of "Mrs Campbell of Balliemore" (1795) and the extraordinary
trenchant handling of the "John Tait of Harvieston and his grandson"
(1798-9) show modifications which are as fine and perhaps less
mannered. Even earlier he sometimes attained a solidity and
forcefulness of effect, a fullness of colour, and a resonance of tone
which gave foretaste of the accomplishment of his full maturity.
Curiously this is most marked in two or three full-lengths. The
earliest of these w