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Mrs. Richard Alexander Oswald (Louisa Johnston, ?born about 1760, died 1797)

Sir Henry Raeburn British, Scottish
ca. 1794
Not on view
The portrait was painted about a year after the sitter’s marriage in 1793 to Richard Alexander Oswald. In praise of her beauty, the Scottish poet Robert Burns wrote a song, "O, Wat ye Wha’s in Yon Town." The setting sun brilliantly illuminates the sky through a screen of tree trunks and foliage, a device Raeburn favored in the mid-1790s. The subject is shown seated outdoors holding a book, lost in thought.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Mrs. Richard Alexander Oswald (Louisa Johnston, ?born about 1760, died 1797)
  • Artist: Sir Henry Raeburn (British, Stockbridge, Scotland 1756–1823 Edinburgh, Scotland)
  • Date: ca. 1794
  • Medium: Oil on canvas
  • Dimensions: 48 1/2 x 40 7/8 in. (123.2 x 103.8 cm)
  • Classification: Paintings
  • Credit Line: Gift of Mrs. Paul Moore, 1980
  • Object Number: 1980.305
  • Curatorial Department: European Paintings

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