In the late spring or early summer of 1784 Raeburn left Edinburgh to embark on his one study visit to Italy. His circle of acquaintances in Rome included James Byres, the influential Scottish antiquary, dealer and expert guide (or cicerone). Coinciding with Raeburn’s stay in Italy, Byres was joined by his young nephew Patrick Moir. When Byres retired to Aberdeenshire in 1790, Moir inherited his tourist business and was also entrusted with custody of his collection. Trapped in Rome by the French invasion of 1797, Byres’s art property was not returned to Scotland for many years. It included this sensitive likeness of the young Patrick, commissioned by his uncle and the only known surviving portrait associated with Raeburn’s stay in Italy.