National Galleries of Scotland

In both his actions and in his painted image, John Campbell illustrates the difficulty of assigning clear-cut loyalties during a time of civil unrest and political uncertainty. A grandson of the 1st Earl of Breadalbane, Campbell was the cashier of the Royal Bank of Scotland, an enterprise considered to be the ‘government’s bank’. He was, therefore, a pillar of Scotland’s loyalist establishment. However, when the Jacobites occupied Edinburgh in 1745, he let them exchange banknotes for over £6,000 in coin, so helping them prepare for their descent into England. In his portrait Campbell wears a tartan kilt and jacket, a revealing choice just two years after parliament had banned the wearing of Highland dress in Scotland. With sword, pistols and dirk, the banker presents himself as a warrior chieftain in the tradition of his ancestors.