“OLD MASTER" IN DUST BIN

Evening Star, Issue 19546, 3 May 1927, Page 14

“OLD MASTER" IN DUST BIN

AUTHORSHIP DISCOVERED. Much interest has been excited among artists in Edinburgh by the discovery of the authorship of a section of a portrait which for many years has been a subject of conjecture. The story of the fragment is a curious one. Many years ago a portion of the portrait, which is that of a young woman, seated, showing the arms and body, but without the head, came into the possession of the Scottish Arts Club._ It is understood that it had been picked up from a refuse bucket in the city, and had come under the notice of an artist who recognised the high quality of the craftsmanship. The fragment was . framed, and is part of the wall decoration of the Scottish Arts Club. Experts were agreed that the painting was of a high order, but it is only recently that the identity of the artist has been established. It has been found that Raeburn, about 1818, painted the portraits of Miss Margaret Grant Suttie and her sister Janet. About the middle of last century the portraits of the daughters were placed above the doors of the drawing room of Prestongrange Mansion House, and, in order to fit them into their position they had been cut, practically only the heads being retained. The portraits themselves were some •time later sold in London; but there has been discovered a reproduction of that of Margaret, apparently on the same scale as the original. _ This has been placed against the original nainting or the body and arms in the Scottish Arts Club premises, and nas been found to fit exactly. The composite portrait shows .an attractive young woman, painted in the graceful manner characteristic of Raehnm.