John Murray, 4th Earl of Dunmore 

Curator: Immediately, what strikes me is the drama! The vast landscape swirling behind, framing him… it's theatrical. Editor: You've perfectly named the feeling that emerges when viewing this romantic vision of John Murray, the 4th Earl of Dunmore, by Joshua Reynolds. I am captivated by all that plaid, a dazzling tartan explosion against the somber sky. He almost blends in, doesn’t he, this man of the Highlands, into its land? Curator: Absolutely! Tartan's more than just cloth. Each pattern whispers tales, loyalties, histories... think about how visual identity was expressed then, versus branding today. It’s clan allegiance you could wear. Editor: Right. So this plaid practically screams his lineage. Look at how the colours interact – the blues of the kilt against the red jacket—symbols of water and fire coexisting. Curator: Or perhaps restraint, an attempt to ground the flamboyant pattern with his very mannered stance. Editor: Ah, I see. He's definitely playing a role, a bit actorly isn't he? This feels like a projection, a carefully crafted fiction around this earl, or, maybe, even Reynolds inserting his version of idealized Scottish nobility, with this kind of landscape recalling the imagery that had risen to fame as an iconic vista due to works of Ossian a few decades earlier. Curator: Maybe he loved wearing that plaid, though! Seriously. Or was just being ironic in its pompous, but romantic expression, playing against his serious portrait that must have been created afterwards? Look at that dead tree to the left. Death and rebirth—subtle metaphors about lineage continuing even in times of, what were those times? Quite troubling with uprisings and instability? Reynolds wasn't only a painter, but a stage designer using imagery in very layered forms to address various potential issues within the portraits and other commissions that would arise. I think. Editor: A possibility—he could just simply stand for renewal, hope for his earldom? Well, I suppose that is exactly the beauty of visual symbols: we weave our narratives upon them, our memories into what we see… and, ultimately, reveal ourselves, too. Curator: Beautifully said. Thank you! I learned today how important it is to look at the landscapes beyond to see into portraits like this.