New evidence supports Raeburn as the real painter of The Skating

0 Comments | Sunday Herald, The, Aug 20, 2006 | by Charlene Sweeney

IT is a question that has vexed not just the Scottish art establishment but international experts for decades: who painted The Skating Minister?

According to one camp the answer is Sir Henry Raeburn, the renowned Scottish portraitist. In the view of others the painting should be attributed to obscure French artist Henri-Pierre Danloux.

The producers of a new BBC documentary, however, have uncovered evidence which has convinced key experts and the National Galleries of Scotland (NGS) that the iconic portrait is indeed a Raeburn.

The director of the film, Jan Leman, said the production team set out to "nail" the riddle to mark this year's 250th anniversary of Raeburn's birth.

"We're now firmly of the view, based on the evidence that we've looked at, that the original attribution is the correct attribution, " he said.

The unsigned painting, Rev Robert Walker Skating On Duddingston Loch, was thought to be a Raeburn from its style, the known friendship between artist and minister, and the written testimony of Walker's great-grandaughter, Beatrix Scott, stating her mother, Mary Scougall, had inherited it from Jean Walker, the clergyman's widow.

Not everyone was convinced, however, and last year the doubts came to a head when NGS curator Stephen Lloyd wrote an essay in the Burlington Magazine arguing the portrait was by HenriPierre Danloux, an obscure French artist who travelled to Edinburgh to paint the French royal family in exile.

His theory triggered a furore - and a host of experts to back Lloyd. The weight of opinion even convinced the NGS to add a footnote about Danloux to the attribution card next to the painting.

Now Leman's documentary is set to reignite the debate. Among the fresh information is Jean Walker's will, which shows she made provision to leave "all the portraits of which I may die possessed" to granddaughter Mary Scougall, supporting Beatrix Scott's claims.

They also discovered that a Portrait Of The Late Dr Walker by Raeburn, sold at an Edinburgh auction house in 1896, was brought to sale by the Walker family's lawyers, establishing further proof of the strong links between the minister's family and the Scottish artist.

"I was really pleased we found these things, especially the will, " said Leman.

"Significantly, we could also find no evidence that Danloux ever met Robert Walker or Raeburn in Edinburgh. It is very probable that Raeburn met Danloux, but was he influenced by him? Who can say?"

Leman also revealed that the programme presents X-ray scans which demonstrate that The Skating Minister was not painted on to an underdrawing and that it has been touched up many times to make corrections. "Danloux was a great draughtsman, and he wouldn't have made so many mistakes, " he added.

Neither of the film's main interviewees, Lloyd and Duncan Thomson, a Raeburn expert and former director of the National Portrait Gallery, has seen the film yet, but last night Thomson said the new information appeared to "strengthen" the Raeburn case.

"It sounds pretty good, but whether it is a clincher for the Danloux side I am not sure, " he said. Thomson admitted the tussle was beginning to annoy him. "The Skating Minister is a great painting and I am a bit sad that its reputation is being called into question, " he explained.

Stephen Lloyd said the new information was "interesting and significant", but it wouldn't sway him from believing The Skating Minister was by Danloux.

A spokeswoman for the NGS said: "The evidence uncovered by the documentary lends weight to the NGS's view that the traditional attribution should be upheld."

Who Painted The Skating Minister? is on BBC2 next Sunday at 7pm.

NEED TO KNOW

FACTS A new documentary film claims to present fresh evidence that The Skating Minister was painted by Sir Henry Raeburn.

BACKGROUND The debate is just part of a resurgent global interest in Raeburn.

In November the NGS is collaborating with Edinburgh University to host an international symposium on the artist, which is also open to the public.

NEED TO KNOW MORE? www.nationalgalleries.org The NSG website.