Allan Ramsay, Miss Craigie, later Mrs. Reid, 1741. Oil paint on canvas; 29 1/2 × 24 1/2 in. (74.9 × 62.2 cm). Gift of the Berger Collection Educational Trust, 2019.12

image height: 29 1/2 in, 74.9300 cm; image width: 24 1/2 in, 62.2300 cm; frame height: 35 5/8 in, 90.4875 cm; frame width: 30 5/8 in, 77.7875 cm; frame depth: 2 7/8 in, 7.3025 cm

European and American Art Before 1900

European Painting and Sculpture before 1900

Hailed by the eighteenth-century connoisseur Horace Walpole as the greatest painter of female portraits, the Scottish-born Allan Ramsay enjoyed success in both Edinburgh and London. In 1761 he was named painter to George III. Ramsey’s portrait of a fresh, exuberant Miss Craigie—her first name is not known—was followed by portraits of her father, a leading political and legal figure in Scotland, her sister Anne, and, upon her marriage in 1751, her husband. "Miss Craigie" remained in the family of her descendants for nearly 250 years.  

The family of the sitter; by descent to A. C. G. Craigie-Lucas, until 1990; sale, Christie’s, South Kensington, July 12, 1990, lot 43; Horsenden Manor, Buckinghamshire; Horsenden Manor sale, Christie’s, October 22, 1997, lot 659; from which acquired by William M. B. Berger and Bernadette Johnson Berger, Denver; Berger Collection Educational Trust; gifted to the Denver Art Museum, 2019. Provenance research is on-going at the Denver Art Museum and we will post information as it becomes available. Please e-mail provenance@denverartmuseum.org, if you have questions, or if you have additional information to share with us.

• “Treasures from the Berger Collection: British Paintings 1400-2000” — Denver Art Museum, 10/2/2014 – 9/9/2018