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Lot Essay
Alexander Douglas, 10th Duke of Hamilton and 7th Duke of Brandon (1767-1852) was the elder son of Archibald, 9th Duke of Hamilton (1740-1819) and his wife Harriet Stewart, daughter of the 6th Earl of Galloway. Born in St. James's Square, he was educated at Harrow and then at Christ Church, Oxford. After a Grand Tour in Italy he served as Colonel of the Lanarkshire militia and Lord Lieutenant of the county and was Member of Parliament for Lancaster (1802-6) and ambassador to the Court of St. Petersburg in 1806. He succeeded his father as the 10th duke of Hamilton in 1819 and was also Duke of Brandon in the peerage of Great Britain and Duke of Chatelherault in the peerage of France, and was appointed a Knight of the Garter in 1836. He served as Herditary Keeper of Holyroodhouse and was Lord High Steward at the coronations of King William IV and Queen Victoria. A descendant of the regent Arran, he was proud of his distinguished family history and considered himself the true heir to the throne of Scotland, a pride reflected in the stately arrangements at his funeral when he was interred at the family mausoleum near Hamilton Palace. The remarkable collection of art which he formed at Hamilton palace, which was dispersed at a celebrated sale at Christe's in July 1882.
The Duke had developed his taste for the arts while in Italy in the early part of his life. Later he was Vice-President of the Royal Institution for the Encouragement of the Fine Arts in Scotland and must have known Raeburn well. He developed a fascination with Napoleon and in 1812, the same year as sittings are first recorded for this portrait, the Duke commissioned from Jacques-Louis David Napoleon in his Study (National Gallery of Art, Washington DC). The commission for the present painting clearly came from the same Stendhalian romanticism, a devoted officer engaged in heroic wars. He married, in 1810, Susan, daughter of William Beckford and their son, William, sat as a child to Raeburn (Mackie, op.cit., no. 362).
This portrait was in Raeburn's studio for over a decade. It is first mentioned in a letter from the artist replying to an enquiry regarding the portrait's progress from Alexander Young o'Harburn WS, law agent for the Duke. Dated Edinburgh, 8 September 1812, Raeburn replied: 'My portrait of the Marquis's horse is not yet finished as I somehow understood that the Marquis himself was to have been painted either on him or standing beside him'. Clearly at some point after this the Duke did present himself in Raeburn's studio for completion of the portrait. However, the finished painting was still with the artist at the time of his death in 1823. The portrait then was included in the Raeburn memorial exhibition of 1824, held in the artist's studio which was composed of later portraits that were readily available. The next record of the painting appears in the 1824 inventory of debts owed by sitters to the deceased artist, listed still outstanding, 9 June 1824, 'Duke of Hamilton /P315'. The design of this painting provided the basis for two later military portraits by the artist.
We are grateful to Dr. David Mackie, St. Catharine's College, University of Cambridge, for the above entry.
The Duke had developed his taste for the arts while in Italy in the early part of his life. Later he was Vice-President of the Royal Institution for the Encouragement of the Fine Arts in Scotland and must have known Raeburn well. He developed a fascination with Napoleon and in 1812, the same year as sittings are first recorded for this portrait, the Duke commissioned from Jacques-Louis David Napoleon in his Study (National Gallery of Art, Washington DC). The commission for the present painting clearly came from the same Stendhalian romanticism, a devoted officer engaged in heroic wars. He married, in 1810, Susan, daughter of William Beckford and their son, William, sat as a child to Raeburn (Mackie, op.cit., no. 362).
This portrait was in Raeburn's studio for over a decade. It is first mentioned in a letter from the artist replying to an enquiry regarding the portrait's progress from Alexander Young o'Harburn WS, law agent for the Duke. Dated Edinburgh, 8 September 1812, Raeburn replied: 'My portrait of the Marquis's horse is not yet finished as I somehow understood that the Marquis himself was to have been painted either on him or standing beside him'. Clearly at some point after this the Duke did present himself in Raeburn's studio for completion of the portrait. However, the finished painting was still with the artist at the time of his death in 1823. The portrait then was included in the Raeburn memorial exhibition of 1824, held in the artist's studio which was composed of later portraits that were readily available. The next record of the painting appears in the 1824 inventory of debts owed by sitters to the deceased artist, listed still outstanding, 9 June 1824, 'Duke of Hamilton /P315'. The design of this painting provided the basis for two later military portraits by the artist.
We are grateful to Dr. David Mackie, St. Catharine's College, University of Cambridge, for the above entry.