Orphaned at the age of nine, Henry Raeburn was educated at George Heriot’s Hospital in Edinburgh and at the age of sixteen apprenticed to the jeweler James Gilliland, but he was apparently largely self-taught as a painter.¹ In 1779 or 1780 he married Ann Edgar, whose wealth allowed him an independent income, yet he always actively pursued his career, gaining recognition and admiration quickly for his superb portraits. Sir Joshua Reynolds (1723–1792) praised his younger contemporary’s work and encouraged his trip to Italy.² After a two-year sojourn in Rome, probably in 1784–86, Raeburn chose to return in his native Edinburgh and was soon acknowledged as the finest Scottish portraitist of his time. Raeburn’s portraits differ stylistically from those of his celebrated English contemporaries, Reynolds and Sir Thomas Lawrence (1769–1830). Less flamboyant than either of them, Raeburn is highly regarded for his fresh approach and his “truthfulness of observation that allowed him to seize the particular essence of those he painted.”³ A year before his death, Raeburn was knighted by King George IV for his outstanding achievements during the king’s historic visit to Edinburgh in 1822.⁴

This portrait in the Straus Collection was thought to represent Philip Egerton’s daughter Elizabeth (1771–1857), who married Sir John Delves Broughton, 7th Baronet, in 1792.⁵ However, there is no substantiation that Lady Delves Broughton, who resided in Cheshire, was ever portrayed by the Edinburgh painter, nor has the painting’s provenance as having come from the family home, Doddington Hall, been proven. Instead, recent research has identified the sitter as Christina, the wife of John Haig of Bonnington, Leith, whose family owned the oldest whisky distillery in Scotland.⁶ A preliminary study by Raeburn for this portrait, which is presumed to have descended in the family, was sold in 1916 by Major R. B. Haig of Hereford. It is lost and only known through a photograph in the Witt Library, Courtauld Institute, London. A much more finished version, also thought to have been from Raeburn’s brush but whose whereabouts unfortunately are also unknown, was sold in 1937 at Christie’s. The sitter was misidentified in the sales catalogue as Mrs. Haig of Bermersyde, from another branch of the family. In 1943 the work came on the art market again under the same incorrect title, this time sold by Sotheby’s (fig. 48.1).⁷ This painting, measuring 35 x 26 inches, had been in the collection of Dr. Leonard Gow. It cannot be identical with the slightly larger painting in the Straus Collection, measuring 35 5/8 x 27 7/8 inches, which had been acquired in 1920. It is therefore assumed that the painting in the Straus Collection is a copy of Raeburn’s finished portrait by an unknown painter, possibly made for another member of the family or another residence. Comparing it to the black and white photographs of the Raeburn original, it seems to follow it faithfully; however, it lacks Raeburn’s characteristically fluid brushwork.

Christina Jameson (1766–1855) married John Haig (1758–1819), the son of John Haig of the Gartlands and Margaret Stein, in 1787.⁸ In 1804, Christina’s husband, who was apparently also portrayed by Raeburn,⁹ bought the Leith Distillery that had been founded by Balenie and Kemp in 1798. The distillery was operated from that year until its closure in 1853 by a succession of companies belonging to the Haig family dynasty.¹⁰

Christina Haig is depicted wearing a simple, white, high-waisted dress, held by a dark sash just under her bosom, seated before a landscape that is only summarily indicated. Her fashionably styled dark locks are tied back by a dark green ribbon ornamented with golden dots, and the blue shawl, her most fashionable accessory, serves as a coloristic transition between the white of her dress and the dark background. Her rather highly colored face, with its lively and engaging expression, is seen in three-quarter profile. The fresh pink of her cheeks is typical of Raeburn’s love of “roseate hues,” often used in his female portraits from around the middle of the 1790s. The pink recurs in a muted hue in the dramatic stormy sky, whose rough handling also typical of Raeburn’s output of these years.¹¹ Although the painting is not dated, it appears that Christina Haig’s portrait is not a wedding picture, but a work painted several years after her marriage. The portraits Ann Edgar, Lady Raeburn (early 1790s; collection of Countess Mountbatten) and Mrs. Charles Steuart (c. 1794; Tate Britain), for instance, share these similarities with the present work. The style of Mrs. Haig’s simple white dress, very similar to that worn by Mrs. Steuart and in the ravishingly beautiful Isabella Macleod, Mrs. James Gregory (1796–98; Fyvie Castle, the Forbes-Leith Collection, National Trust for Scotland) further strengthens the assumption of this date.

It is virtually impossible to speculate about the author of this portrait. Clearly aware of Raeburn’s lost original, he is assumed to have worked in Raeburn’s studio or at least in his circle. Yet so little information exists in regard to Raeburn’s studio practice that the question has remained unresolved.¹² Even the most eminent Raeburn scholars today, Duncan Thomson and David Mackie, have abstained from putting forth any suggestions, and therefore the question will have to remain open until possibly resolved by future research.

—Helga Kessler Aurisch