‘My Visage will be deemed a prize’: A Painting of Robert Fergusson recently made Public

There has long been an entangled set of puzzles over the portraiture of Robert Fergusson (1750–1774). Provenance of paintings of the poet involving the artists Alexander Runciman and Henry Raeburn as well as various poetry-edition frontispieces makes for an intriguing search for the best likeness of Fergusson. This essay recounts the difficult provenance of Fergusson portraiture drawing also on his associations, especially the likely artist of his drawing in Cape Club records. Examining also the frame of the ‘third’ painting at Barnbougle Castle acquired many decades ago by the the 5th Earl of Rosebery, and which has not been fully revealed or written about until the present essay, a likely artist is here identified for what may be the truest depiction of Fergusson we have.