Allan Ramsay - The Portraitist of Unassuming Elegance

OCTOBER 13, ON THIS DAY

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The Scottish-born painter Allan Ramsay is hailed as one of the greatest British portraitists of the 18th century for his depictions of sophisticated and elegant portraits using sensitive pastel colour handling and descriptions of the subtleties of light and shadow contributing to the energetic character of the subject.

Ramsay was born on October 13, 1713, in Edinburgh, Scotland, and is most renowned for his naturalistic portraiture. He obtained minimal artistic training in Edinburgh as the son of poet and literary antiquarian Allan Ramsay. At the age of 20, he moved to London and began working with the Swedish portrait painter Hans Hysing. His style was also influenced by Francesco Imperiali and Francesco Solimena during his studies in Italy in 1736-38. His earliest recorded drawing is the portrait of his father in black chalk, inscribed on the mount by his father.

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Ramsay portraiture is a traditional Scottish painting style based on direct observation. His numerous portraits were painted in an opulent way that was a forerunner of Sir Joshua Reynolds\’, but his enduring fame rests on his less formal and more personal works. Ramsay’s portraits of women are especially notable for the warmth, tenderness, and bloom of their presentation, as well as for the technical facility with which lace and ruffles are reproduced. The influence of French Rococo portraiture is clear in the lightness and in unpretentious elegance of these works.

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Among the greatest portrait paintings by Ramsay, and possibly his finest masterpiece, is the \”Portrait of the Artist\’s Wife\”. This picture of Ramsay\’s second wife is painted with great intimacy, and shows, in its delicacy, the influence of French painting of the 18th century. In 1766 Ramsay painted a portrait of \”Jean-Jacques Rousseau\” and a second one of \”David Hume\” which are remarkable for their incisive sense of character.

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King George III appointed Ramsay to succeed John Shackelton as Principal Painter in Ordinary in 1761. The king ordered so many royal portraits to be presented to ambassadors and colonial governors that Ramsay required the help of many assistants to finish the painting details. David Martin and Philip Reinagle are two of his most well-known assistants. Around 1770, Allan Ramsay stopped painting to focus on his literary endeavours. An unintentional dislocation of his painting arm and the passing of his second wife in 1782 both had a devastating effect on his health. With unflinching tenacity, he struggled until he had completed his last portrait of the king, and then left for Italy, leaving 50 royal portraits to be completed by his assistant Philip Reinagle. Allan Ramsay died on 10 August 1784 in Dover, at the age of 70.