This portrait of Scottish poet Robert Burns is a line engraving, based on a drawing by Archibald Skirving. In its turn, Skirving’s drawing was inspired by Alexander Nasmyth’s famous half-length portrait of Burns – one of the very few portraits created from the life. Beugo’s engraving combines the fashionable dress and rural background of Nasmyth’s painting with the idealised, dreamy features of Skirving’s portrait drawing of Burns. All three works are in the collection of the National Galleries of Scotland. This engraving was part of a large bequest made to the Galleries in 1886 by William Findlay Watson, who was a keen collector of prints and drawings.