The Scottish Historical Review VOL. VI., No. 24 JULY 1909 On the So-called Portrait of George Buchanan THE by Titian HE relation between the Earl of Buchan and the brothers Foulis throws some light on the gallery of portraits and other paintings formed by the Earl. Lord Buchan was born in 1742. He received his early education from James Buchanan, who believed himself to be a relation of George Buchanan. His teacher, doubtless, laid the foundations for the great admiration Lord Buchan entertained of George Buchanan. In his later life, when naming the eleven great men of Britain, he placed Buchanan alongside of Bacon, Newton, and Milton. He studied at Glasgow University, and while there he became a pupil in the Academy of Art, which had been established by R. and A. Foulis, the famous printers. When they conceived the idea of founding such an academy, Robert, the elder brother, visited the Continent in 1751 to collect works of art for the gallery and to secure teachers for the academy. In 1753 he returned to Glasgow with his treasures. Lord Buchan published in the first volume of the Transactions of the Scottish Antiquarian Society an etching which he executed while he was a pupil in the academy. He went to London in 1765 to study diplomacy under Lord Chatham, and in the same year became a Fellow of the Royal Society, signing the Register as David [Lord] Cardross. His interest in Buchanan no doubt made him interested in his portrait, believed to be genuine, which hung in the Society's rooms. The death of Lord Buchan's father in 1767 brought him back to Scotland. success. The Art Academy of the printers was a financial failure. The owners attempted to dispose of their pictures, but with little The difficulties that beset the famous printers are well known. Captain Topham, in his Letters from Edinburgh, says, in a letter written 23rd February, 1775, that when he went to Glasgow to visit the famous printers, I had heard of their Printing, but never of their Academy. It was in vain that I asked for books; I had always a picture thrust into my hand; and like Boniface, though they had nothing in print worth notice, they said they could show me a delicate engraving.' They bought paintings which nobody else would buy again,' and, he adds, they run after paltry copies of good paintings, which they had been informed were originals.' Andrew Foulis died in September, 1775, and Robert in the following year disposed of what remained of the treasures of his Gallery by public auction in London. It is said that, after paying expenses, he realised only a few shillings from the sale. He died very suddenly at Edinburgh on his way home. During the seven or eight years after his return to Scotland. before the London sale took place, Lord Buchan was no doubt importuned by the owners of the Art Academy to help them in their difficulties, and I suggest that he then acquired from them the portrait that he determined to be that of George Buchanan and to have been painted by Titian. Drummond (Portraits of Knox and Buchanan, 1875, p. 20) says the Earl 'had got together an extraordinary collection of historical portraits, good, bad, and indifferent.' The Earl contributed to Dr. Anderson's monthly journal, The Bee, papers recording personal matters under very transparent disguises. In his letter from Albonicus to Hortus, written in imitation of the ancients, and dated Tweedside, July 25, 1791 (The Bee, vol. iv., p. 165), he describes the ruins of Dryburgh, and, in some detail, his own villa. This room,' he says, 'if I am able, I mean to stucco, and dedicate to the portraits and contemplation of the illustrious Scots, and to give the name to it of The Temple of Caledonian Fame. I see by your strenuous efforts to apply your superabundant fortune to the succour of struggling merit in Scotland, that you are desirous of increasing my collection of pictures. May my countrymen strive to enter in at the strait gate of this venerable apartment! Marcus Aurelius and Seneca are on the outside of the building. None can enter that are not truly Scots. Veni Robur Scotia anemosa pectore Robur, |