AE 



302 



RAG 



and of the Academy of South Carolina. In 1814, when 

 Sir Henry. ^{ s g rst picture was sent to the Royal Academy of Lon- 

 s "" P ~ / "~""' don, he was elected an Associate, and in the succeeding 



year he was appointed an Academician. In the year 



1822, when king George IV. honoured Scotland with 

 a visit, the dignity of knighthood was without any so- 

 licitation conferred on Mr. Raeburn, as the head of 

 our resident school of painting. This honour was con- 

 ferred upon Sir Henry Raeburn in the great saloon at 

 Hopetoun House, with the sword of Sir Alexander 

 Hope, and before a large party who had assembled in 

 that magnificent mansion to celebrate the last day of 

 our sovereign's visit to Scotland. 



On the occasion of this respect being shown to Sir 

 Henry, the other artists of our metropolis, with a libe- 

 rality which did them the highest honour, gave a pub- 

 lic dinner to Sir Henry on the 5th of October, for the 

 purpose of testifying the satisfaction which they felt at 

 the choice made by his Majesty. In the summer of 



1823, Sir Henry received the appointment of Portrait 

 Painter to his Majesty for Scotland ; but the nomina- 

 tion was not announced to him till the very day on 

 which he was attacked with his last illness. 



Sir Henry continued to labour at his profession in 

 the latter part of his life with the same zeal and indus- 

 try as in his most active years ; and the pictures execut- 

 ed during the last two or three years of his life, some 

 of which we have already enumerated, were equal to 

 any that he ever painted. 



The most interesting, however, of Sir Henry's recent 

 works, are a series of half-length portraits of his literary 

 and scientific friends, which he painted solely for his 

 own private gratification. Among these are the portraits 

 of Sir Walter Scott, Mr. Jeffrey, Mr. F. Homer, the Rev. 

 A. Alison, Dr. Brewster, the Rev. Andrew Thomson, 

 the late Mr. Rennie, Mr. Cockburn, the Rev. J.Thom- 

 son, and Mr. H. W. Williams. The portrait of the 

 Rev. Dr. A. Thomson is, in our opinion, the best of 

 this group, and one of the best that he ever painted. 



Sir Henry had now reached that period of life when 

 even the most active mind begins to think with some 

 seriousness of the change which awaits it. Though in 

 perfect health, and of a frame which seemed to defy 

 the ordinary contingencies of time and disease, we have 

 often heard him allude to the probability of that change. 

 In the summer of 1823 he went upon an excursion in- 

 to Fifeshire with Sir Walter Scott, the Lord Chief 

 Baron Shepherd, William Clerk, Esq. and a small party 

 of friends, under the auspices of Lord Chief Commis- 

 sioner Adam, (the early and steady friend of Sir Henry 

 Raeburn, ) who have for some years paid an annual vi- 

 sit to objects of historical curiosity and interest. On 

 that occasion his health seemed to be eminently vigo- 

 rous, and he contributed his full share to the hilarity 

 of the party. When he returned to Edinburgh, Sir 

 Walter Scott sat to him for the half-length portrait 

 above mentioned, and for another for Lord Montague. 

 These pictures were the last which he painted ; and in 

 a few days after they were finished, Sir Henry was 

 seized with a general debility, which was not attended 

 with any visible disease. This unexpected attack con- 

 tinued for a week to baffle all the skill of his medical 

 attendants, and carried him off on the 8th July, 1823, 

 in the 68th year of his age. 



The loss of this great artist was deeply felt, not only 

 by his personal friends, but by the public at large. 

 Those who took a deep interest in the progress of tiie 

 fine arts in Scotland, saw that the place of Sir Henry 

 Raeburn could not be supplied ; and those who con- 

 sidered the art of painting as administering only to their 



luxury to the luxury of their vanity or their sorrow 

 were deprived of one of the highest sources of gratifi- 

 cation. 



The Ro)ral Inst'tution for the Encouragement of the 

 Fine Arts in Scotland, held a meeting on the 10th of 

 July, at which they passed resolutions of regret and 

 condolence on the loss of their eminent colleague, and 

 particularly lamented that the season of the year, and 

 other circumstances, prevented them from requesting 

 permission of his family to attend publicly, in a body, 

 his remains to the grave. 



At a meeting of the Royal Academy of London, on 

 the l6th of July, Sir Thomas Lawrence lamented the 

 melancholy task which had devolved upon him, of an- 

 nouncing officially to his colleagues the death of one of 

 their most distinguished associates. " He expressed 

 his high admiration for the talents of the deceased, and 

 his unfeigned respect for the high feeling and gentle- 

 manlike conduct which had conferred a dignity on him- 

 self, and on the art which he professed. His loss, Sir 

 Thomas conceived, had left a blank in the Royal Aca- 

 demy, as well as in his own country, which could not 

 be filled up/' 



By Lady Raeburn, who still survives him, Sir Henry 

 had two sons, the eldest of whom, inheriting his father's 

 talent, died at the early age of nineteen. His second 

 son, Mr. Henry Raeburn, who is married and has a fa- 

 mily, lived always under the same roof with his father. 



Sir Henry Raeburn was no less elevated above the 

 ordinary level of men of genius by his religious and 

 moral character, than he was by his skill as an artist. 

 That overweening vanity, the weed which grows so 

 rankly under the influence of public applause, and 

 which so often intoxicates and corrupts the painter and 

 the poet, had never taken root in the mind of Sir Henry. 

 The praise which was so liberally bestowed on his 

 works served only to make him more humble, and to 

 nourish those grave virtues which marked his charac- 

 ter. He was a regular and habitual attender upon the 

 public duties of religion ; a Christian in heart as well 

 as in practice. In the bosom of his family, and of that 

 of his son, he spent the happiest hours of his life, and 

 took particular pleasure in the society and playful 

 sports of the young. To young men of promising ta- 

 lent he was ever ready to afford assistance and advice ; 

 towards the labours of his brother artists his candour 

 was proverbial ; and if the term error could ever be as- 

 sociated with any act of his, it could only be in those 

 cases where a little severe and decided criticism may be 

 regarded as truer kindness, than that mild and gentle 

 praise which often pushes the dull pretender into a 

 sphere far above his own. 



Sir Henry has left behind him a good portrait of him- 

 self, fi'om which an engraving is now executing by Mr. 

 Walker of Edinburgh. There is an engraving of Sir 

 Henry by Mr. Nicholson, and a bust by Mr. Campbell, 

 a promising Scotish sculptor now residing atRome; but 

 none of them are characteristic likenesses. We trust, 

 however, that the genius of Mr. Joseph will supply this 

 defect in the bust of Sir Henry, with which he is at pre- 

 sent occupied. 



RAFAEL. See RAPHAEL. 



RAGUSA, anciently RAGUSIUM, the chief town of 

 a district of the same name in Austrian Dalmatia. It is 

 situated on the Adriatic, in a peninsula, which forms 

 an excellent harbour, sheltered by a hill from the im- 

 petuosity of the north winds. Ragusa is concealed by 

 a wall flanked with towers, now in a state of decay ; 

 but some modern defences of considerable strength have 

 been erected at the harbour. The streets of this town 



Raeburn, 

 Sir Henrj 



II 



