Portrait of Sir Lawrence Dundas, 1st Baronet (c. 1710-1781), three-quarter-length, in a blue coat, his right arm resting on a table, before a curtain

A self-made patrician, Sir Lawrence Dundas rose from humble beginnings to become part of the ruling elite in the mid-18th century, amassing a great fortune and a series of properties that made him one of the most powerful landowners of his lifetime. Starting life behind a shop counter in the Luckenbooths, Edinburgh, he went on to become a wine merchant and subsequently made his fortune as an army contractor, with many supply contracts furnished during the Seven Years’ War (1756-63). His ambitions, though, also lay beyond his business life: in 1747 he successfully ran for parliament, becoming the Member of Parliament for Linlithgow Burghs, but was soon unseated on the grounds of corruption, when it became clear he had unfairly bought his electoral victory. Later however, in 1762, he negotiated a baronetcy and that year became MP for Newcastle under Lyme. During this period he pursued his significant interest in land purchases. Amongst other properties, he acquired Marske and Upleatham, in the North Riding of Yorkshire, and Aske Hall, on the west side of the North Riding. In 1763 he bought the palatial Moor Park, Hertfordshire, where he commissioned Robert Adam to re-design its decoration and provide new furnishings, which would include a celebrated suite of furniture. Adam also worked for him on the improvement of the town house he bought at 19 Arlington Street, London. Arguably his most renowned and lasting achievement came in 1773 when he used his influence with the town council in Edinburgh to obtain the best site in the New Town, where he built Dundas House, St Andrew Square, now head office of the Royal Bank of Scotland.

Dundas invested some of his considerable wealth in his picture collection, and sat himself to renowned painters, including Johann Zoffany, whose depiction of Sir Lawrence and his grandson is in the Collection of the Marquess of Zetland. A portrait, previously given to Thomas Hudson, but latterly to Nathaniel Dance-Holland, depicting Dundas in identical pose to the present lot, is also in the Zetland Collection. It is quite plausible, indeed probable, that Dundas would have commissioned several versions of this portrait for each of his main residences, at Arlington Street, Moor Park, Kerse, Aske Hall and Dundas House.