This portrait depicts John Clerk, Lord Eldin (1757–1832), in a seated position and holding a pair of gold-rimmed spectacles in his right hand. The sitter has been placed on the left of the painting with his left arm extending across the composition and resting on a book. The desk in front of him is draped with a green tablecloth where a crouching Venus is visible amongst scattered papers tied with ribbon. He is dressed predominantly in black with a white neck cloth. The background is dark with the area behind the sitter’s head and left shoulder dimly illuminated.
This oil on canvas has been painted on twill weave canvas, a material frequently used by Sir Henry Raeburn. Raeburn would have noted the use of twill, a canvas woven with distinctive diagonal ridges, by the Old Masters while visiting Rome. As art historian John Dick suggests, the artist may have used it for the decorative quality of the weave of the canvas showing through the paint (Dick 1997, p.42). This feature is discernible in numerous works by Raeburn, including in his portrait of Neil Gow, also in the Scottish National Portrait Gallery collection. Raeburn almost certainly obtained his pigments from commercial suppliers, as materials in the nineteenth century were increasingly mass-produced, though he may have specified certain characteristics and paid for them accordingly (Dick 1997, p. 43).
John Clerk was born in April 1757, the eldest son of John Clerk of Eldin and Susannah Adam. As a young man Clerk had in interest in debating, literature, philosophy, and politics. After practicing as an accountant for approximately two years he was admitted as a member of the Faculty of Advocates in December 1785. He became a prominent member of the bar and was known for his sarcastic humour. Clerk was appointed solicitor-general for Scotland in the Grenville administration in 1806, where he made notable contributions to reform. Clerk took the title of Lord Eldin in November 1823 when he assumed the role of judge, a positon from which he resigned after five years. He never married and died at his home in Picardy Place, Edinburgh, on 30 May 1832 (Barker 2004).
Clerk is portrayed as assertive and engaging, his expression is stern and has the appearance of someone who is somewhat displeased at having been interrupted from his work. Raeburn has carefully calculated the composition of the painting. Art historian Duncan Thomson describes Clerk’s outstretched arm as a buttress which links the dark mass of the sitter’s body to the large, sloping book (Thomson 1997, p.168). The figure has a monumental, severe, presence in the composition. Thomson also draws attention to the vertical line which divides the plain background and the geometry of the painting, which is awash with light and nuanced shadow.
Henry Raeburn had painted an earlier portrait of John Clerk which is believed to have been accidentally destroyed (Thomson 1997, p.168). Art historian T.C.F. Brotchie reported that the two men became acquainted in their teenage years and had many common interests, including drawing (Brotchie 1924, pp.38–9). Clerk was also a close friend of James Hutton, another of Raeburn’s subjects in the Scottish National Portrait Gallery collection. Clerk is said to have joined Hutton on a geological excursion on the Isle of Arran, utilizing his skill as an artist in his geological sketches (James Hutton and Some of his Friends. An Exhibition of Raeburn Portraits In the Old Senate Hall 1976, p.4). This portrait was bequeathed by Clerk to his friend, Gibson-Craig, from whom the Scottish National Portrait Gallery acquired it.
Clerk was in possession of a major collection of books, paintings, prints, drawings, china, bronzes and coins. Upon his death much of the art was sold at his home in a sale which attracted enormous interest with hundreds in attendance over three days. On the third day of the sale the floor of the drawing room collapsed resulting in the fatality of one shopper. The objects present on the desk allude to the sitter’s character, personality and interests. The bronze figurine is an acknowledgment of Clerk’s activity as an art and book collector (Great Scots 1985, p.48). It also alludes to his position as a judge and as an accomplished draughtsman.
Further reading
T.C.F Brotchie, Henry Raeburn 1756-1823, London 1924.
James Hutton and Some of his Friends. An Exhibition of Raeburn Portraits In the Old Senate Hall, exhibition catalogue, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh 1976.
Great Scots, Edinburgh 1985.
Duncan Thomson, The Art of Sir Henry Raeburn 1756-1823, exhibition catalogue, Scottish National Portrait Gallery, Edinburgh 1997.
G. F. R. Barker, ‘Clerk, John, Lord Eldin (1757–1832)’, rev. A. M. Godfrey, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford 2004 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/5619, accessed 6 Nov 2016].
Kate O’Donoghue
The University of Edinburgh
November 2016