Margaritta MacDonald by Henry Raeburn at the Scottish National Gallery

This is one of Rayburn's best-loved portraits, but virtually nothing is known of Margarita MacDonald's personality or life. She married Robert Scott Moncrief, an Edinburgh wine merchant and friend of Sir Walter Scott. She died in 1824 and her husband survived her for 30 years. During this time, he kept her portrait permanently in his dining room and never remarried. The dating of the picture is a guess based on stylistic grounds. In the last decade of his life, Rayburn changed his style, partly influenced by Rembrandt's art, and worked in a more rounded manner, presenting forms in deliberate soft focus. The thing about Rayburn, though, which is intriguing, is that there are no existing sketches or drawings by him. But as an artist, when I look at his paintings, I can see that he was drawing with a brush. And I can just imagine how he outlined with a brush those first stages and the spirit, the character of that sitter would already have been in those paintings. Henry Rayburn was born in 1756 and raised in Edinburgh. He began his education at Harriet's Hospital after being orphaned, and at the age of 15 he was apprenticed to a goldsmith. He soon turned to producing carefully finished portrait miniatures, which saw him gain success and patronage. Afterwards, he became a self-taught oil painter.