About this artwork

James Duff was a wealthy Banff merchant who had ‘acquired a fortune through honest industry'. His affluence allowed him to purchase the Aberdeenshire estate of Corsindae from William Duff, Lord Braco (later the 1st Earl of Fife), for whom he had once been a factor. This portrait shows Duff of Corsindae as an alert elderly gentleman of eighty-three. His restrained, muted clothing and intense stare give the impression of a shrewd and puritanical man. The portrait was obviously admired, as there was another version in the collection of his former employer Lord Braco, the proprietor of Duff House. James Duff’s eldest son and heir William was, like Cosmo Alexander, a strong Jacobite sympathiser.

Updated before 2020

  • artist:
    Cosmo Alexander (1724 - 1772) Scottish
  • title:
    James Duff of Corsindae (1678 - 1762)
  • date created:
    1760
  • materials:
    Oil on canvas
  • measurements:
    77.00 x 64.40 cm
  • object type:
  • credit line:
    Presented by Miss Henrietta Tayler 1944
  • accession number:
    NG 2022
  • gallery:
  • depicted:
  • subject:
  • artwork photographed by:
    Antonia Reeve
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Cosmo Alexander

Cosmo Alexander