Sir Henry Raeburn, R.A.

Commissioned by the sitter for Hamilton Palace, Lanarkshire;

Probably removed from Hamilton Palace by the 8th Duke's mistress, Harriet Pye Esten (c. 1760–1865), and part of the settlement bequeathed to their natural daughter, Anne Douglas-Hamilton (c. 1796–1844), who married Henry Westenra, 3rd Baron Rossmore (1792–1860); 

Returned to Hamilton Palace by 1852, when it is listed in an inventory hanging in the Old Dining Room, on the ground floor of the Palace, in the collection of William Douglas Hamilton, 12th Duke of Hamilton (1845–1895);

Offered for sale by the trustees of his estate ('The Property of the Trustees of His Grace the late Duke of Hamilton'), London, Christie's, 6 November 1919, lot 47, unsold;

Alfred Douglas Hamilton, 13th Duke of Hamilton (1886–1940);

Thence by descent. 

1852/1853 Hamilton Palace Inventory, Hamilton Archive, Lennoxlove, Volume 1228, p. 156 (as '½ length Portrait of Douglas Duke of Hamilton' - hanging in the Old Dining Room);

1876 Hamilton Palace Inventory, Hamilton Town House Library, Hamilton Ms., p. 246 (as 'Douglas 8^th Duke of Hamilton [by] Sir H. Raeburn' – hanging in the Old Dining Room);

W. Armstrong, Sir Henry Raeburn, London and New York 1901, p, 104;

E. Pinnington, Sir Henry Raeburn: The makers of British Art series, London and New York 1904, p. 233;

J. Greig, Sir Henry Raeburn, R.A., London 1911, p. 47;

T. Cox, Inventory and Valuation of Pictures, Decorative Objects, Furniture and Effects at Hamilton Palace, Holyrood and Dungavel made by Mr. Tom Cox, 1915, Hamilton Town House Library, Hamilton Ms., p. 65 (as 'Sir H. Raeburn  Portrait of Douglas, 8th Duke of Hamilton, with powdered hair, in scarlet coat and white cravat, his arms folded' – still hanging in the Old Dining Room); 

Arts Council, Raeburn, exh. cat., National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh 1956, pp. 19–20, cat. no. 13;

D. Mackie, Sir Henry Raeburn, Catalogue Raisonné, 6 vols, unpublished ms., vol. III, pp. 470–71, no. 360.