Terms and conditions of use
John Guthrie of Carbeth
(c. 1815)
Medium
oil on canvas
Measurements
76.0 × 63.3 cm
Credit Line
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Felton Bequest, 1935
Gallery location
18th & 19th Century Decorative Arts & Paintings Gallery
Level 2, NGV International
About this work
Henry Raeburn rose to become the leading Scottish portrait painter of his age, following an apprenticeship as a goldsmith and painter of portrait miniatures. Raeburn was self-taught and always worked from a model. He developed a startling talent for conveying the character of his sitters through the handling of their complexions, animated by dramatic lighting. John Guthrie made a fortune in the slavery-funded Caribbean sugar trade in the 1790s, and purchased the estate of Carbeth in the county of Stirling, near Glasgow, upon his return to Scotland in 1800. He was appointed Dean of Guild of the Merchants House of Glasgow in 1814.
Artwork Details
Accession Number
230-4
Department
International Painting
This digital record has been made available on NGV Collection Online through the generous support of Digitisation Champion Ms Carol Grigor through Metal Manufactures Limited
Subjects (general)
Portraits
Subjects (specific)
half figures magistrates men (male humans) merchants spectacles (eyeglasses) West Indian
Provenance
Collection of John Guthrie of Carbeth (1768–1834), until 1834; by descent to a cousin, William Smith (1787–1871), Carbeth Guthrie, Strathblane, Stirlingshire, 1834–71; exhibited Glasgow Institute of Fine Arts, 1868, no. 118; by descent to John Guthrie Smith (1834–94), Helensburgh, Woodside, Mugdock Castle (in 1884), 1871–94; exhibited Exhibition Illustrative of Old Glasgow, Glasgow Institute of Fine Arts, July-October 1894, no. 227; with the Western Club, Glasgow, 1894–1934; from where purchased, through W. Norman Scott, on the advice of Bernard Hall, for the Felton Bequest, 1935.
Exhibited Glasgow Institute of Fine Arts, 1868, no. 118; Exhibition Illustrative of Old Glasgow, Glasgow Institute of Fine Arts, July-October 1894, no. 227