In 1882, the Board of Trustees for Fisheries, Manufactures and Improvements in Scotland, a government body which had turned its support from industry to the fine and decorative arts, received an anonymous donation of £10,000 (over £1.2 million today) to ‘set on foot’ a national portrait gallery. At the opening of the Scottish National Portrait Gallery in 1889, the benefactor was identified as John Ritchie Findlay, the proprietor of The Scotsman newspaper. He continued to provide most of the funding for the building and its decoration, contributing over £60,000.This portrait was painted by the president of the Royal Scottish Academy, George Reid. Early in his career, the Aberdeen-born artist had been influenced by French and Dutch realist painters. He later increasingly focused on portraiture, and showed particular sensitivity in portraying male sitters.