Portrait of Colonel Alasdair Mcdonnell of Glengarry 1812

Editor: We’re looking at “Portrait of Colonel Alasdair Macdonell of Glengarry” painted by Henry Raeburn around 1812, rendered in oil. The sitter’s kilt practically leaps from the canvas, doesn't it? But there’s a reserve, almost a melancholy, despite the finery. What’s your read? Curator: It whispers of highland pride tinged with the looming shadow of cultural shifts. Look at how Raeburn uses the tartan—not merely as fabric, but as a defiant flag. Each carefully placed pleat, each thread, screams heritage and clan allegiance in the face of Anglicization. The weaponry feels more symbolic than functional, a romantic echo of battles past. Does he strike you as a man posed for posterity? Editor: Definitely. It’s like he's been styled, or playing dress-up. Is that the Romanticism seeping in? Curator: Indeed! Raeburn romanticizes the Highlands, idealizing tradition as the world transforms. Notice the almost theatrical lighting, and the dark backdrop crowded with "trophies," it casts Macdonell as both warrior and relic. There is also the swagger stick he grips with determined resolve. Do you suppose it is more for show, than practical application? Editor: Possibly. I guess there's some artifice. I didn’t pick up on those romanticised details at first. Curator: Art has a way of concealing more than it reveals, and that is why it can remain so alluring for centuries on end!