Edited
by Frank R. Shaw, FSA Scot, Dawsonville, GA, USA
Email:
jurascot@earthlink.net
I have always loved the James
Nasmyth portraits. Until recently the Burns global community had three they
could call their own even thought they belonged to museums. The three can be
found at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, Edinburgh; Kelvingrove Art
Gallery, Glasgow; and in the National Portrait Gallery, London. Now, all of
a sudden, another Nasmyth has been discovered, authenticated and is for
sale. Saturday night while delivering the Immortal Memory, I challenged my
own Atlanta St. Andrews Society to circle up and come up with the 2 million
pounds the owner wants for it! Regretfully no one seemed too excited about
doing it so the anonymous owner on the other side of the pond can strike us off
the list of prospective buyers.
A Reproduction of the famous Nasmyth Burns
portrait by Bulgarian artist Yuriy Kovatchev
But wait, I speak this
weekend at the Savannah St. Andrews Society, the second oldest St. Andrews
Society in America, and will challenge those port city boys to go for the
painting, and if they refuse, I may be down but not out as I speak soon to
The Scottish Heritage Society of Southeast Georgia in Statesboro. Maybe,
just maybe, they will loosen their purse strings and America will have
another wonderful treasure of the Bard.
Another thing I like about
the fourth portrait is it was once owned by a hero of mine named Sir James
Shaw, who grew up in Ayrshire relatively close to Burns. Sir James raised a
good bit of money for the widow and children of Burns. He found a way for
all three sons of Robert to enter the military service of the East India
Company. Unfortunately, Francis died before going to India. The other two
went on to distinguish themselves in the military.
This old but new portrait
belonged to Shaw from around 1800 – 1810 while he was serving as the Lord
Mayor of London and the portrait has currently been dubbed the Shaw-Burns
portrait. Now that has a rather nice ring to it but before you jump to
conclusions let me remind you my forefathers were Highlanders and Ayrshire
men are as Lowlander as you can get! Regretfully we are not blood kin or I
would file suit to claim the portrait! Recently good friend Clark McGinn
emailed saying Sir James “Shaw was the only person to think of the two
illegitimate girls named Elisabeth, so in my book he gets an extra pat on
the back.” Money from the trust Shaw raised was to be set aside for the
girls and he was the only one to stand up for them.
All of this is said to
introduce you to Yuriy Kovatchev of Bulgaria. In September 2003 while Susan
and I were browsing the Burns Cottage store for books to add to our
collection, we came upon the Bulgarian‘s reproduction of the Nasmyth
portrait of the Burns. Yuriy is pretty talented and his work, while not a
Nasmyth, was very enticing and his price was something less than 2,000,000
pounds but still cost “a pretty penny”. I’ve grown to love this portrait by
Yuriy and it has been borrowed annually by my Atlanta St. Andrews Society on
Burns Night. The last time was Saturday, January 18, 2014 at the Druid Hills
Golf Club, a most beautiful venue for a Burns Night. I even saw a young
married couple having their picture taken by it as Burns looked on with
approval. Take a bow Yuriy Kovatchev!
By the way, the original
Nasmyth is the one hanging in Edinburgh and was bequeathed by William Nicol,
son of Burns, in 1872. (FRS: 1.22.14) |