A long-lost portrait of Robert Burns by Henry Raeburn, painted in 1803, has gone on public display for the first time at the National Gallery of Scotland in Edinburgh, just in time for Burns Night on 25 January. The painting resurfaced in a house clearance in Surrey and was auctioned in Wimbledon in March 2025 with a guide price of £300–£500; collector and Burns enthusiast William Zachs purchased it for £68,000 after a tense bidding war, gambling on the Raeburn attribution. Experts including Patricia Allerston and Duncan Thomson have since confirmed the work is authentic, and it is now exhibited alongside Alexander Nasmyth's 1787 portrait of Burns.
The rediscovery matters because it reunites three towering figures of Scottish culture—poet Robert Burns, painter Henry Raeburn, and portraitist Alexander Nasmyth—in a single exhibition. The painting had been lost for over two centuries, and its return to Scotland fills a significant gap in the nation's artistic heritage. The display also highlights the role of private collectors and expert connoisseurship in recovering lost masterpieces, and it adds a fresh focal point to the annual Burns Night celebrations.