We come now to examine the portraits of Sir John Clerk, the first
Baronet of Penicuik, who was born in 1649; served repeatedly in
Parliament, after the Revolution of 1688, as member for the county of
Edinburgh; was Lieutenant-Colonel of a regiment commanded by the Earl
of Lauderdale; was created a Baronet by Charles II. in 1679; acquired
the lands of Lasswade in 1700; and died in 1722. He is described by his
son as “one of the strongest men of his time, but not full in stature,
being scarce 5 feet 6 inches,” “finely made, had proportionate breadth,
and a Hercules shoulders,” “a man of knowledge and application,” “a
pretty good scholar, and exceedingly knowing in Divinity.”
No fewer than five portraits—pictures and miniatures—at Penicuik
are stated to represent this first Baronet. The earliest is that
preserved in the glass case beside the entrance to the Library. It is
a miniature, executed on paper with the brush and Indian ink, showing
a small head, turned in three-quarters to the left, and garnished with
a long wig. On the back is inscribed, in the handwriting of the Chief
Baron, the first Baronet’s son, “Sir John Clerk then in those days
in London a counselar at Law great wigs were in fashion 1689.” In
the same case is a second miniature of similar general character, but
drawn upon vellum, accompanied by a companion miniature of the first
Baronet’s second wife, Christian, daughter of the Rev. Mr. Kilpatrick.
Another portrait of this lady, an oil-portrait, showing the figure to
the waist, is in the Dining-room. Here she wears a claret-coloured
dress and an amber-brown mantle. The hair is yellowish brown, the
eyes of a dark rich brown, and the face, which is a little out of
drawing, though curiously individual and life-like, has peculiarly
raised eyebrows. This work is inscribed in the handwriting of her
son-in-law—“Dame Christian Kilpatrick, my father’s second wife,
painted 1706 by Mr. Aikman, when he was learning to paint, but very
like”—an early example of the artist, done when he was studying under
Medina, the year before he left for Italy.
In the Dining-room are three other works, all life-sized oil-portraits,
stated to be likenesses of the first Baronet. One of them, showing Sir
John clad in a brown gown lined with red, is manifestly a companion
portrait done at the same time as the last-named portrait of his wife.
It also bears a similar note by the Baron—“My father Sir John Clerk,
painted by Mr. Aikman about the year 1706, when he was beginning to
paint.” In its style of handling, as well as in its combinations of
colour, it recalls most strongly the works of Sir John Medina, its
painter’s master.
A second portrait is also by Aikman, a later and more accomplished
work. Here the figure is seen nearly to the waist, turned to the right,
with the face slightly in the same direction. A curled wig is worn, and
a single-breasted coat of pale blue velvet. The eyes are of a clear
blue colour; and the face is of that firm, powerful, large-featured
type which for generations was habitual in the house of Penicuik. This
picture, again, is inscribed in the son’s handwriting—“Sir John Clerk
of Pennicuik, my Father, painted by Mr. Aikman. He was born in April
1649, and died in March 1722, aged 73.”
Very considerable difficulty attaches to the remaining portrait,
which is believed to represent the first Sir John Clerk, and to the
manifestly companion portrait beside it, which has been held to portray
his first wife, Elizabeth, daughter of Henry Henderson of Elvington,
and grand-daughter of William Drummond of Hawthornden, a poet “of an
excellent Fancy for the times he lived in,” as the Baron remarks,
rather patronisingly, in the family history with which he begins his
account of his own life.
It has been stated (Catalogue of National Gallery of Scotland, 1887)
that these portraits “are dated 1674.” This, however, is inaccurate,
as no inscription appears upon either work. It has also been asserted
(Catalogue of Royal Scottish Academy Loan Exhibition of 1863) that “the
original Scougal accounts for the price paid for them” are preserved
at Penicuik; but a search which we have made through the old receipts
of the period has failed to disclose such a document. Probably this
second reference is not to the painter’s receipt, but simply to an
entry of the payment which is to be found in an interesting old
account-book preserved in the Charter-room at Penicuik, one of that
“great many journals and writings” which the Chief Baron records that
his father left “under his hand, which will, I hope, bear testimony
to the regard he always had for virtue and Honesty.” This volume the
Chief Baron—partly in filial piety, more perhaps with the instinct
of the accurate and omnivorous antiquary—has docketed as follows:
“Book of Accompts by my Grandfather Mr. Jo. Clerk, and Father Sir John
Clerk, Whereon are several things remarkable. 1º, their methodes of
accompting. 2º, their methodes of management. 3º, the different
prices of things. John Clerk, 1733.” Here on a page _headed June 1674_,
but under date of “Nov^r 1675,” the following entry appears—“To John
Scougall for 2 pictures £36”; and it is curious, as illustrating “the
different prices of things,” and also as showing how a love of all the
various fine arts prevailed then among the Clerks, as it has prevailed
among them ever since, to note another entry, which appears a few lines
beneath: “To Mr. Chambers for Teaching G. and me to play y^e violl
£150,” both sums being in Scots currency.
There can be no doubt that the portraits above referred to are the “2
pictures” by Scougall mentioned in the account-book, for a comparison
with other works by that painter proves them to be excellent and most
typical examples of his brush, and there are no other pictures in the
house painted in a style recalling that artist, except the portrait of
Lord Justice-Clerk Sir Archibald Primrose, which will be afterwards
referred to. It has been assumed, but on less sufficient evidence, that
they represent the first Sir John Clerk (by whom they were certainly
commissioned) and his first wife, and that they were painted to
celebrate the wedding of the pair, which occurred in 1674. It is to
be noted, however, that the account-book gives no information as to
who the personages are that appear in the pictures; that there is no
contemporary inscriptions on the works themselves to prove that it is
the first Baronet and his wife that are portrayed and not merely two
of their friends; that in the male portrait the face is delicate in
its curves and contours, with a long thin nose, drooping at the point,
quite unlike the countenance which appears in the pictures certified in
the handwriting of the son as representing the first Baronet; and that
the present picture seems to portray a man of more than twenty-five or
twenty-six, the age of the first Sir John when the work was executed.
But, whomever they portray, the pictures are excellent and interesting
examples of a little-known Scottish artist, by far the finest works
by John Scougall with which we are acquainted; and they afford
most interesting representations of the costume of the end of the
seventeenth century.
Each of them shows its subject to the waist. The male figure is turned
to the right, clad in a black doublet, with richly wrought silver
buttons, partly open in front and disclosing the shirt, which also
appears at the arms, beneath the short sleeves of the coat; and the
short embroidered cravat is drawn through a loop and spread out, in
fan-like folds, on either side. The thin, nervous-looking face wears
a very peculiar expression; the eyes dark blue, the long yellowish
hair curling down to the shoulders: it is a face eminently individual,
utterly unforgetable.
The lady’s portrait is even a more beautiful and fascinating old
picture. Here the figure is turned to the left; the face, seen in
three-quarters, is rather pallid in its flesh-tints, as was usual with
the painter, a characteristic which appears also in the male portrait.
The eyes are of a neutral grey-blue; the yellow-brown hair is worn flat
on the top, and bound with a string of pearls, from beneath which it
flows in carefully arranged ringlets. The dress, of plain white satin,
with voluminous sleeves, is cleverly handled and excellently expressive
of the texture and sheen of the material; and a brooch of pearls and
dark stones is set at the breast, clasping a scarf of faint blending
blue and yellow tints, which floats over the lady’s right shoulder, and
flows freely behind.
Of James Clerk of Wrightshouses, the second son of the first John Clerk
of Penicuik, and brother of the first Baronet, we have an imposing
three-quarters length painted by Sir Peter Lely. He appears standing,
robed in a rich crimson gown, which shows its orange-tinted lining,
with an elaborate lace cravat, and ruffles appearing at the hands, one
of which is laid gracefully against his side, while his right arm rests
on a stone parapet to the left. The face is of a man of between thirty
and forty, with handsome regular features and the rounded, oval cheeks
and small, ripe, red-lipped mouth which the painter loved to depict,
and with much individuality and character in the firm clear-cut line of
the nose. A dark curtain appears behind the figure, and a low-toned,
wintry-looking distance of landscape.
The companion picture of Mary Ricard, “a French lady,” wife of
James Clerk of Wrightshouses, also shows the figure standing and in
three-quarters length. She is clad in a low-breasted, short-sleeved
dress, richly brocaded with crimson, yellow, and green flowers, and
with a simple string of large pearls round the neck. She has brown
eyes, light brown eyebrows, moderately arched, and dark brown curling
hair, one curl lying isolated on her white shoulder. She is arranging
flowers in a yellow brown pot decorated with Cupids’ heads, which
stands on a table to the left, and behind the figure is a wall with a
pilaster, a red curtain, and a glimpse of landscape with blue mountain
peaks, which may very well be the southern slope of the familiar
Pentlands as seen from Penicuik House.