By Grant Smith

AN OIL painting by one of Scotland’s greatest artists, Sir Henry Raeburn, has been bought for the McManus Galleries in Dundee for more than £130,000.

The work is a portrait of the “eastern prince” George Paterson, who was born in the city in 1734 and went on to make his fortune in India before returning to live in Castle Huntly, by Longforgan.

The city council has made a small contribution to the purchase price, but most of the sum has been raised through grants from various charitable and artistic funds.

McManus Galleries is closed for an £8 million renovation, so for now the portrait will hang at the National Galleries of Scotland in Edinburgh, where it was unveiled yesterday.

John Stewart-Young, McManus project director, said, “With this painting we have an irresistible combination—a very fine and perceptive portrait by Raeburn, Scotland’s foremost portrait painter, and a Dundonian sitter, probably the only Dundonian ever painted by Raeburn.

“And this is not just any Dundee worthy,” he added. “The sitter, George Paterson, was a fascinating man, a high achiever and historically significant.”

Paterson was the son of a master weaver. He was educated at Dundee grammar school, then studied medicine at Edinburgh University before becoming an army surgeon.

In 1769 he went to India as the secretary to a diplomatic mission sent out to negotiate with the Nawab of Arcot, the royal ruler of a state in the Madras area, who had complained about his treatment at the hands of officials of the East India Company.

Paterson wrote a diary amounting to three-quarters of a million words during his time in India. It is now kept at the British Library.

On his return to Scotland in 1776 he became a member of the aristocracy through his marriage to the daughter of the 11th Baron Gray and he bought Castle Huntly, now the home of an open prison.

Raeburn painted him in about 1790. The portrait, which is 48in by 39in, shows Paterson sitting on a bank reading a book with the castle in the background.

The painting remained in the Paterson family until 1938, when the last occupant of the castle died. His executors sold it at Christie’s auction house to the Fine Art Society and it was later bought by a private owner.

Months of fund-raising work was needed to secure the work for £131, 581, making it the most expensive fine art work acquired by the city.

The Art Fund and the Heritage Lottery Fund both put in £48,000, with another £15,000 coming from the National Fund for Acquisitions. The rest of the sum was met by the city council, the Leng Charitable Trust and the Dundee Art Galleries and Museums Association.

Art Fund director David Barrie described the painting as an “outstanding work.”

He said, “Raeburn vividly evokes the thoughtful, humane personality of George Paterson and the fund is delighted to have helped secure the painting for Paterson’s home town.”

Until the McManus renovation is complete, the portrait will hang at the National Galleries alongside a picture of Castle Huntly by Alexander Naysmith, which was also previously owned by the Paterson family.