John Tait and His Grandson
Sir Henry Raeburn·c. 1793, with additions c. 1800
Historical Context
Raeburn's John Tait and His Grandson from around 1793, with additions around 1800, is one of his most intimate multi-figure compositions, depicting an elderly man in tender interaction with his grandchild. The subject — age and youth, grandfather and grandchild — was a vehicle for exploring the emotional bonds across generations that Raeburn treated with characteristic directness and warmth. The note that additions were made around 1800 is significant: portrait commissions often evolved as family circumstances changed, with figures added or modified as children were born or sitters aged. Raeburn's ability to integrate additions seven years after the initial painting demonstrates his command of his own style and his sensitivity to portraiture's social function.
Technical Analysis
The contrast between the elderly man's weathered features and the child's smooth face showcases Raeburn's range. Both faces are modeled with his characteristic bold directness, and the emotional warmth between the figures adds a tender note to his typically forthright manner.
Provenance
Craufurd Tait, Edinburgh [d. 1832], the sitter's only son; by descent through John Tait [d. 1877], the child in the portrait, to Mrs. Frederick Pitman, née Tait, Edinburgh, by 1901; her eldest son, Archibald Robert Craufurd Pitman, Edinburgh; sold October 1918 to (Robert Langton Douglas, London and New York);[1] purchased February 1919 by Andrew W. Mellon, Pittsburgh and Washington, D.C.; [2] deeded December 1934 to The A.W. Mellon Educational and Charitable Trust, Pittsburgh; gift 1937 to NGA. [1] John S. Pitman (Archibald Pitman's brother), undated letter to Langton Douglas, in NGA curatorial files. See letter from Douglas to Fowles dated 1 May 1941, Duveen Brothers Records, Box 244 (reel 299). [2] M. Knoedler & Co. stock books (Helmut Ripperger to Ross Watson, 28 September 1969, in NGA curatorial files).
