Lot Essay
Dr. John Samuel Rogerson (1741-1823), studied at the University of Edinburgh, and later went to Russia where he became physician to the Court of Empress Catherine the Great in 1769. He treated many members of the Court and was generally held in high favour, although Prince Galitzine wrote to Potemkin 'If you ever fall into the hands of Rogerson, you are a dead man'. His letters give an interesting insight into court life between the reign of Catherine the Great and Alexander I. He returned to Scotland in 1816. Johann Baptist Lampi was in Russia between 1795 and 1804 and painted numerous portraits of Russian aristocrats.