Long-Lost Robert Burns Portrait Has Reemerged After 200 Years

Henry Raeburn, “Robert Burns, after Alexander Nasmyth,” 1803. (Photo: Blackie House Library and Museum, Edinburgh; Public domain)

When Dr. William Zachs attended an auction in London last March, he was in pursuit of something very specific: a long-lost painting of the world-renowned Scottish poet and lyricist Robert Burns. The work had been painted in 1802, some six years after Burns’ death, by Henry Raeburn, who also happened to be a revered Scottish artist. But only a few decades later, the canvas vanished.

The portrait was originally commissioned by London-based publishers Cadell & Davies, who hoped to reproduce it in future editions of Burns’ collected poems. At that point, though, the poet was dead and left behind only one significant portrait of himself, painted by Alexander Nasmyth in 1787. Raeburn relied upon Nasmyth’s small, oval painting of Burns while creating his own, enlarging the composition and rendering the poet with a more lively, atmospheric color palette. By the time the publishing house shuttered in 1840, the portrait had disappeared.

“Burns fanatics were looking for it because it was described as a portrait of the greatest Scotsman painted by Scotland’s greatest artist,” Zachs told The New York Times in a recent interview.

Indeed, sleuths have spent centuries searching for the iconic Burns portrait, using investigative, scholarly, and, in some cases, more spiritual techniques. “Arthur Conan Doyle, the creator of Sherlock Holmes, reported about a séance that happened where a crazy Burns collector named Edward Barrington Nash tried through the medium of a spirit to invoke Robert Burns and find where this missing portrait was,” Zachs remarked in the BBC.

Nearly 200 years later, in March 2025, the London-based Wimbledon Auctions would host a house clearance sale, featuring a painting titled Robert Burns in the manner of Raeburn. Despite being listed between $400 and $700, the portrait piqued Zachs’ interest—and that of many other bidders. But Zachs ultimately won the fierce bidding war and purchased the work for about $113,000, after which he consulted several experts about its attribution. Turns out Zachs’ hunch was correct: the portrait was in fact painted by Raeburn.

“Raeburn’s expressive, seemingly effortless brushwork, the characteristic warm palette, soft atmospheric lighting, and sensitive rendering of the instantly recognizable Robert Burns are a joy,” Lesley Stevenson, senior conservator of paintings at the National Galleries of Scotland, said in a statement. “This is a significant discovery and one we can all celebrate.”

“Although Raeburn was working from an image made by another painter, the portrait has that wonderful freshness of observation that marks Raeburn’s work at its best,” Duncan Thomson, keeper of the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, added. “The result is a portrait that speaks in an entirely new way of the warmth, the sensuality, and the profound intelligence that we find in Burns’ poetry.”

The rediscovered portrait has since been restored and is currently being showcased at the National Galleries, hanging alongside the Nasmyth painting that inspired it. The exhibition coincided with Burns Night, a national celebration in Scotland that was recently held on January 25. The occasion involves recitations of Burns’ poetry, such as his beloved A Red, Red Rose and Auld Lang Syne, as well as musical recitals and traditional Scottish feasts.

“To share this [Raeburn] painting is fantastic and the story is just beginning,” Zachs said. “The doors have only just opened and I hope people will come and see for themselves this work which has been hidden from the world for 200 years.”