This portrait is one of the finest Ramsay ever painted.

Its exquisite measure of values presages the classical developments in painting towards the end of the century in a quite remarkable way. It is therefore not only a landmark in Scottish painting, but in European art. Lord Drunmore was a member of that extraordinary dynasty of Scottish lawyers, the Dalrymples. He himself was a seated judge and in 1745 became a Lord Justiciary. According to his fellow-judge, Lord Woodhouselee, he was 'an acute and sound lawyer and possessed of a ready, distinct and forcible, though not a polished elocution'. This work was acquired with assistance from the Wolfson Foundation.

Provenance

Elizabeth Broun; George Broun of Colstoun; Christian, Duchess of Dalhousie; 10th Earl & 1st Marquise of Dalhousie; Lady Edith Ferguson; Col. J.G.A.Baird; Edith Christian Broun; Captain Colin Broun.


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