Sir Henry Raeburn
Professor James Gregory (1753 - 1821), President of the Royal College of Physicians and the King’s Physician in Scotland, Painted circa 1796 - 1798
Oil on canvas
29 ½ x 24 ½ in. (74.9 x 62.2 cm.)
Copyright: The Weiss Gallery, London
Dr James Gregory was one of Scotland’s most distinguished medical physicians during the Enlightenment period. Not only did he enjoy a successful career in medicine, ultimately becoming the first physician to the King in Scotland, but he was a highly revered lecturer and antiquarian.
Provenance
Alexander Fraser Tytler (1747 - 1813), Lord Woodhouselee, Aldourie Castle; thence by descent to
Lt-Col. Edward G. Fraser-Tytler (1856 - 1918); his sale
Christie’s, London, 13 June 1913, lot 132; bt. by
Dr Percy Mitchell, Chesterfield Street, Mayfair;
with Scott & Fowles, New York; where presumably bt. by
Zalmon Gilbert Simmons II (1870 - 1934), Greenwich, Connecticut; thence by descent to
Nancy Douthit (1928 - 2002), Palm Beach, Florida;
Private collection, United States of America.
A popular figure within Edinburgh’s medical and intellectual community, primarily as a long-standing Chair of Practical Medicine at the University of Edinburgh and as a founding Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. This portrait, a variant of a larger composition now at Fyvie Castle, was likely commissioned by the sitter’s friend Lord Woodhouselee to commemorate Gregory’s election as President of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh in 1798, which closely preceded his appointment as First Physician to the King in Scotland.
Having lived near the university buildings in the Old Town for most of his career, Dr Gregory’s success enabled him to acquire a townhouse on the newly developed Ainslie Place (no. 10) in the early 1820s. However, he was unable to enjoy living in the New Town’s grand environment for long: whilst walking through St. Andrew Square in 1821, he was struck by a horse-drawn carriage. Sadly his injuries proved fatal, leaving a young family behind him. He was buried in Canongate Kirkyard, his grave neighbouring that of the great Enlightenment thinker Adam Smith.
This portrait’s artist, Sir Henry Raeburn, is perhaps the best known of all Scottish painters. He was almost exclusively a portraitist and his career was wholly in Scotland, though he was elected a member of the Royal Academy in London in 1815. This portrait was painted soon after his return from Italy, his only trip abroad. In 1822, the year before he died, Raeburn was the first artist to be knighted in Scotland by George IV and given the post of King's Limner in Scotland.
Having lived near the university buildings in the Old Town for most of his career, Dr Gregory’s success enabled him to acquire a townhouse on the newly developed Ainslie Place (no. 10) in the early 1820s. However, he was unable to enjoy living in the New Town’s grand environment for long: whilst walking through St. Andrew Square in 1821, he was struck by a horse-drawn carriage. Sadly his injuries proved fatal, leaving a young family behind him. He was buried in Canongate Kirkyard, his grave neighbouring that of the great Enlightenment thinker Adam Smith.
This portrait’s artist, Sir Henry Raeburn, is perhaps the best known of all Scottish painters. He was almost exclusively a portraitist and his career was wholly in Scotland, though he was elected a member of the Royal Academy in London in 1815. This portrait was painted soon after his return from Italy, his only trip abroad. In 1822, the year before he died, Raeburn was the first artist to be knighted in Scotland by George IV and given the post of King's Limner in Scotland.