SCOTLAND'S GREATEST

ONE day in the early 1800s, Sir Duncan Campbell, captain in H.M. Third Scots Fusilier Guards, donned his scarlet coat, carefully adjusted his black-and-white stock, tied on his red sash, buckled on his sword, and presented himself at Henry Raeburn's Edinburgh studio on York Place. As was his custom, Painter Raeburn squinted at his subject from under his heavy eyebrows, then boldly painted in Campbell's forehead, chin, nose and mouth directly on the canvas. Four or five visits later, the portrait (opposite) was done.

Young Campbell's portrait made him one of a distinguished company. Raeburn, an orphaned son of a Scottish millowner and largely self-taught in art, had developed his own technique of painting to the point where, in the eyes of the local aristocracy, he was Scotland's greatest artist and the equal of London's Romney, Lawrence and Gainsborough. A Highland chief, when entertaining him, gave the command: "Bonnets off to Sir Henry Raeburn." To his studio in a steady procession came such famed countrymen as Diarist James Boswell, Economist Adam Smith, Philosopher David Hume and Novelist Sir Walter Scott. With complete self-assurance Raeburn painted them all. In nearly 1,000 portraits he set down, with strong brush strokes and delicate modeling, the gallant, romantic air of the handsome, purposeful Scots of his day.

Best of all, Raeburn knew how to capture the air of robust hauteur then considered the proper mark for men of distinction. This is particularly true of his portrait of Sir Duncan Campbell, a dashing figure who, as a general's aide-de-camp, had three horses shot out from under him at the Peninsular battle of Talavera. In later years the young officer became a magistrate and deputy lieutenant for the county of Argyll, in 1831 was created first baronet of Barcalvine and Glenure. There is little doubt that he liked his early portrait. It remained in the family for more than 100 years, was bought early this year by San Francisco Art Patrons Roscoe and Margaret Oakes and included in their most recent gift--eight oils now hanging in a new, oak-paneled room in San Francisco's De Young Museum.

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