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 to [q. v.], then the fashionable portrait-painter of the Scottish capital. If Raeburn was the Reynolds of Scotland, Martin may be called its Hudson. The young aspirant no doubt owed much to the older and less gifted artist. The pictures in Martin's studio fired his ambition and led him to adopt a broader treatment in his miniatures. Martin received him kindly, giving him the run of his house and allowing him to copy in his studio. But perhaps some foreboding of future rivalry prevented Martin from offering any direct help or practical encouragement. Finally a coolness sprang up between the pair, the master having unjustly accused the scholar of selling one of the copies he had been allowed to make. Meanwhile the success of his miniatures emboldened Raeburn to devote himself entirely to portrait-painting. His lack of technical training hampered him seriously at the outlet. He had to find out for himself all the rudiments of his art—how to prepare his colours, set his palette, and generally to manage his tools. But hard work and earnest study from nature proved the best road to efficiency. His first essays in oil show none of the small and over-careful treatment that might be expected from a miniaturist. Almost from the first his work in the oil medium was vigorous and broad. He passed with consummate ease from the conscientious delicacy of the miniaturist to the bold, square execution which marks his life-size portraits.

Among the friends whose advice and encouragement he found most valuable in his early struggles was the young advocate [q. v.], afterwards the well-known judge of the court of session, under the title of Lord Eldin. Raeburn has helped to immortalise this lifelong friend by two fine portraits. Clerk often joined the painter in his sketching expeditions. Money was then scarce with both, and Cunningham gives an amusing account of the shifts to which they were sometimes reduced. In neither case, happily, did the probation last very long. Raeburn soon began to make a name for himself in his native city; commissions flowed in, and a marriage, at once romantic and provident, set him beyond the reach of poverty at the age of twenty-two. In 1778 a lady presented herself at the young painter's studio to sit for her portrait, and was at once recognised as a fair unknown he had met in some sketching excursion and had introduced into a drawing. She was Ann, daughter of a small laird Peter Edgar of Bridgelands, and the widow of a certain Count Leslie, a Frenchman by nationality. She was some years older than Raeburn, and had had three children, but sitter and painter were mutually attracted, and within a few months became man and wife. The handsome fortune she brought her husband was by no means her only recommendation. The marriage was thoroughly happy. One of Christopher North's daughters, Mrs. Ferrier, describes her in her old age as 'a great character,' and all we hear or her agrees with what we see in Raeburn's fine portrait of the 'dear little wife—comely and sweet and wise,' in suggesting a personality both purposeful and charming. Her memory is locally preserved in the name of Ann Street, Edinburgh, the home of Christopher North, De Quincey, and other worthies, which stands on what once was her property, to the south of the Water of Leith.

After their marriage the couple lived for a time at Deanhaugh House, a legacy to Mrs. Raeburn from her first husband. It was afterwards taken down to make room for the extension of Leslie Place. Raeburn spent some years here in the active exercise of his profession, but, as he became more and more alive to defects due to a want of early training, he made up his mind to seek improvement abroad. An introduction to Reynolds confirmed his resolve. Sir Joshua generously recognised the Scottish painter's talent, and strongly advised him to study for a time in Rome, directing his attention more particularly to the works of Michael Angelo in the Sistine Chapel. In after years Raeburn was fond of describing how Sir Joshua, taking him aside at their parting, said, 'Young man, I know nothing of your circumstances; young painters are seldom rich; but if money be necessary for your studies abroad, say so, and you shall not want it.' Of money Raeburn was in no need, but he gratefully accepted introductions from Reynolds to many leading men in Rome, among others to Pompeo Battoni. His countryman, Gavin Hamilton, also proved of service. Raeburn further made friends with the connoisseur and collector, Mr. Byers, to whose advice—that 'he should never paint even the most trifling accessory in his pictures without having the object before Him'—he ascribed a conscientious treatment of detail by no means universal among his contemporaries. After two years of steady work in Rome, he returned to Edinburgh in 1787, and set up his easel in a new studio in George Street. There he soon found himself in the full tide of popularity. David Martin, his former patron, was his only serious rival, as he was also, perhaps, the only person who professed to believe that 'the lad