ALLAN RAMSAY | Portrait of Mrs. Barbara Young (d. 1798?), half-length, wearing a pink dress with white lace, and a black lace shawl

The Rev. J.M. Patullo, 1928;
With Doig, Wilson & Wheatley, Edinburgh;
From whom acquired by Alexander Shaw, 2nd Baron Craigmyle (1883–1944) in 1935;
Thence by descent.

Edinburgh, Royal Scottish Academy, Scottish Print Club, 25 October – 24 November 1928, no. 42;
London, 27 Grosvenor Square, Scottish Art and Antiquities, 5 February – 1 March 1931, no. 1171;
Glasgow, Bellahouston Park, Empire Exhibition, May – December 1938, no. 12;
London, Royal Academy, Exhibition of Scottish Art, 5 January – 11 March 1939, no. 80;
London, Royal Academy, Allan Ramsay, 7 March – 26 April 1964, no. 62.

D.S. Meldrum, 'Scottish Art and Antiquities', The Burlington Magazine, vol. LVIII, no. 336, March 1931, p. 134, reproduced plate IA;
J.L. Caw, 'Allan Ramsay, Portrait Painter', The Walpole Society, vol. XXV, 1937, p. 60, reproduced plate XXVI(b);
A. Smart, Allan Ramsay. A complete catalogue of his paintings, New Haven and London 1999, p. 196, cat. no. 544, reproduced p. 374, fig. 597.

The canvas has a very firm relining, which has flattened the paint surface, which is itself relatively clean, with a clear and even varnish. A degree of wear and the network of craquelure have afforded retouchings through the sitter's face and chest. Inspection under ultraviolet light confirms these, and reveals further fine lines of retouching to the craquelure in the sitter's hair, in the background around her head and to her right, as well as to much of her black lace shawl, and arm and hand. There are a handful of slightly more concentrated areas of retouching just above the sitter's proper left shoulder, the longest of which measures 3 cm. In overall fair condition.
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This painting was executed in circa 1767–68 and reflects the influence of French rococo portraiture so evident in the latter part of Ramsay's career. Mrs Young's dress here is remarkably similar to that worn by Lady Robert Manners, in her portrait of a similar date,¹ and Martha, Countess of Elgin, whose likeness dates to circa 1764. A preparatory, black chalk study for the sitter's left hand in the present work is in the National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh.³ Barbara Young was the daughter of Dr Thomas Gibson, and married in 1754 Dr Thomas Young, eminent obstetrician and Professor of Midwifery at the University of Edinburgh from 1756. Bills to the painter record that Young attended Ramsay's own wife, Margaret, who had a series of difficult pregnancies.

1 National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh, inv. no. NG 1523; see Smart 1999, p. 155, cat. no. 351, reproduced p. 374, fig. 595.
2 The Earl of Elgin and Kincardine KT; see Smart 1999, p. 103, cat. no. 152, reproduced p. 349, fig. 506.
3 Inv. no. D.2099; see Smart 1999, p. 196, under cat. no. 544, reproduced p. 404, fig. 753.