About this artwork

Wearing tartan from head to toe, Macdonell of Glengarry seems, in this portrait, to be the perfect image of a highland chief. However, Macdonell's romantic attachment to the customs and costumes of Gaelic culture did not stop him evicting his tenants to clear his lands for sheep farming. The writer Sir Walter Scott was a close friend, and he was probably thinking of Macdonell when he created the character of the doomed Jacobite clan chieftain, Fergus McIvor, in his novel Waverley.

Audio commentary

This commentary is part of the National audio tour. Listen to the whole tour in Smartify.

Updated before 2020

see media
Does this text contain inaccurate information or language that you feel we should improve or change? Tell us what you think.

Sir Henry Raeburn

Sir Henry Raeburn