This portrait was listed in an 1867 catalogue of pictures at Blackness House, as having been painted in 1788. In the previous year Raeburn had returned from Italy, and was establishing himself as the foremost Scottish portraitist. This painting is an interesting example of his style at the outset of his career. Not a great deal is known about David Hunter of Blackness, but the most compelling feature of his portrait is the frank acknowledgment of the painter’s (and in turn the viewer’s) presence as his illuminated eye stares directly out.