John Tait and His Grandson

Painted by Sir Henry Raeburn in 1793, the oil-on-canvas portrait depicts John Tait of Harviestoun alongside his grandson. The work remained within the sitter's family for over a century, passing from Craufurd Tait, the sitter's only son who died in 1832, to the child in the portrait, John Tait, who died in 1877. It subsequently descended to Mrs. Frederick Pitman, née Tait, by 1901, and then to her eldest son, Archibald Robert Craufurd Pitman.

In October 1918, the painting was sold to dealer Robert Langton Douglas in London and New York. Andrew W. Mellon purchased the work in February 1919, holding it in Pittsburgh and Washington, D.C., before deeding it to The A.W. Mellon Educational and Charitable Trust in December 1934. The National Gallery of Art received the painting as a gift from the trust in 1937, where it remains part of the Andrew W. Mellon Collection. The specific accession number and exhibition records are not detailed in the cited sources.

Through its long descent in the Tait family and its acquisition by Andrew W. Mellon, John Tait and His Grandson became part of the founding Mellon gift to the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., in 1937. It remains in the museum’s Andrew W. Mellon Collection, underscoring its enduring institutional legacy.

This oil on canvas painting, titled John Tait and His Grandson, captures an intimate moment between two generations. The artwork depicts the elder John Tait seated alongside his grandson, conveying a sense of mutual ease and affection. The artist meticulously rendered both figures and their surroundings, creating a detailed and engaging portrait that emphasizes the personal connection between the subjects.