Elizabeth Balfour of Dunbog, Mrs Thomas Boswall of Blackadder
Sir Henry Raeburn, RA (Stockbridge 1756 – Edinburgh 1823)
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
circa 1791 (widowed)
Materials
Oil on canvas
Measurements
1270 x 1016 mm (50 x 40 in)
Place of origin
Scotland
Order this imageCollection
Montacute House, Somerset
NT 597923
Summary
Oil painting on canvas, Elizabeth Balfour of Dunbog, Mrs Thomas Boswall of Blackadder by Henry Raeburn, RA (Stockbridge 1756 – Edinburgh 1823), circa 1791. A portrait of an elderly woman, three-quarter length to left, gazing at the spectator, seated on a wooden chair under a tree with a distant horizon to the left. He holds her armrest with her left hand and her right hand is on her lap. She is dressed in black with a white cap and fichu. A daughter of Henry Balfour of Dunbog (Benboig) (1708-1764) and Katherine Porterfield (1721-after 1791). She married and Edinburgh accountant, but was widowed by 1791, around the time of this portrait and his brother-in-law's.
Provenance
It is probable that, with its companion, it came from the Houston Boswall collection; lent to the exhibition at the Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh in 1876 [Exhibition of the Works of Sir Henry Raeburn] by Sir George Houstoun-Boswall, 2nd Bt (1809–1886), who had inherited it from Thomas Boswall of Blackadder through his wife, Euphemia (m.1847; died 1882). It appears to have been removed from Blackadder by one of Sir George’s younger brothers after his death: either by Thomas Alford Houstoun-Boswall-Preston of Tweed Hill (1850–1918); or by Robert Houstoun-Boswall-Preston (1852–1913); or by Alfred Houstoun-Boswall (1854–1920) [information from letter of Rupert Timpson, 23rd September 2005]; Ernest Cook (1865-1955) had acquired the painting from Gooden and Fox [On the 28th June 1946, James Lees-Milne noted in his diary [date?] that he had called on Ernest Cook at his house in Syon Place, Bath. “Then called on Mr Cook…to see two Raeburns he offers the Trust for Montacute” 'Caves of Ice' by James Lees Milne, p.65. The two portraits by Sir Henry Raeburn were 597922 and 597923.]; given by Ernest Cook (1865 - 1955), 1947
Credit line
Montacute House, The Ernest Cook Collection (National Trust)
Marks and inscriptions
Recto: Small gilt tablet affixed to bottom centre of frame, inscribed:
Makers and roles
Sir Henry Raeburn, RA (Stockbridge 1756 – Edinburgh 1823), artist
References
Sir Henry Raeburn, Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh, 1876, Noted in Greig, 1911 that painting was exhibited at exhibition. Greig 1911: James Greig, Sir Henry Raeburn, R.A. His Life and Works With a Catalogue of his Pictures, London 1911, p.39. "List of Pictures by Sir Henry Raeburn R.A. Boswall, Mrs., of Blackadder. Lent to Raeburn Exhibition, by Sir George A.F.Houston Boswall, Bart. Painted about 1822." Gore 1969: F. St John Gore, 'Pictures in National Trust Houses', supplement to Burlington Magazine, Vol.cxi, No.793. April 1969, pp.239-58, p.248. "Montacute House, Somerset (Montacute, Nr.Yeovil) Ownership. Pictures given with the house by Mr Ernest Cook, 1931. Raeburn Mrs Boswall 50 x 40." Montacute House, Somerset, 1976 [The National Trust; Dudley Dodd] 1976, "THE LIBRARY ANTE-ROOM West Wall Mrs Boswell of Blackadder, by Sir Henry Raeburn. Given by Mr Ernest Cook." Montacute House, Somerset, 1991 [The National Trust; Malcolm Rogers] 1991, p.63 "THE LIBRARY ANTE-ROOM PAINTINGS Miss Balfour of Dunbog, later Mrs Boswell of Blackader Nothing is known of the sitter, who is perhaps shown as a widow . (Cook bequest.) Sir Henry Raeburn (1756-1823), c.1800-10." Montacute House, Somerset, 1991 [The National Trust; Malcolm Rogers] 1991, p.63 "THE LIBRARY ANTE-ROOM PAINTINGS Miss Balfour of Dunbog, later Mrs Boswell of Blackader Nothing is known of the sitter, who is perhaps shown as a widow . (Cook bequest.) Sir Henry Raeburn (1756-1823), c.1800-10." Montacute House, Somerset, 2004-2006 [The National Trust; Malcolm Rogers] 2000, revised 2004, reprinted 2005, 2006, p.51 "THE LIBRARY ANTE-ROOM PAINTINGS Miss Balfour of Dunbog, later Mrs Boswell of Blackader Nothing is known of the sitter, who is perhaps shown as a widow . (Cook bequest.) Sir Henry Raeburn (1756-1823), c.1800-10."