A long-lost portrait of Scottish poet Robert Burns by Sir Henry Raeburn has been rediscovered and is now on display at the National Galleries of Scotland in Edinburgh. The painting was found at a London house sale last year, consigned to Wimbledon Auctions with a low estimate of £300–£500, but sold for £68,000 after intense bidding. It was purchased by Edinburgh-based art collector William Zachs, who had it restored and brought to Scotland, where experts confirmed it as an authentic Raeburn. The work is a copy Raeburn made in 1803 of a 1787 portrait by Alexander Nasmyth, commissioned by London publishers Cadell & Davies but lost shortly after completion.
The discovery matters because it fills a gap in art history and offers new insight into Raeburn's practice, with experts praising its "wonderful freshness of observation." The painting now hangs alongside the Nasmyth original at the Scottish National Galleries, just in time for Scotland's annual celebration of Burns's birthday on January 25, reconnecting the public with a significant cultural artifact that had been missing for over two centuries.