The prompt for this exhibition is the display in the National Gallery of Scotland of Alexander Nasmyth’s 1787 oil painting of Robert Burns face to face with the newly discovered 1803 portrait by Sir Henry Raeburn. These paintings have not been together since they left Raeburn’s Edinburgh studio.
Our Face to Face exhibition explores images of Burns produced over the past 223 years – images derived from Nasmyth’s portrait. Raeburn’s portrait presents an opportunity to look backwards and forwards and imagine the poet in new and dazzling lights.
Please browse our image gallery below to see the range of Burnsiana in the BHLM collection. Many of the ceramics, Mauchline Ware, and postcards were recently acquired from the collection of the great Burns collector and scholar Thomas Keith of New Jersey. A number of these were very kindly donated to BHLM.
