Sir Charles married Janet Murray, daughter of Sir Patrick Murray of Dryden; she bore him seven children.
The Halketts are a family of ancient lineage, in Scotland by the 13th century and settled at Pitfirrane in the 14th. The family seat was a small castle or tower house sold in 1951 when Lady Madeleine Halkett died; it is now a golf club.
WILLIAM AIKMAN (1682-1731) was a Scottish portrait painter, only son of the Laird of Cairney, Forfar where he was born. He developed a passion for painting and studied under Medina, sold the family estate and went to Rome in 1707 for three years. He settled in Edinburgh in 1712 and was an excellent taker of likenesses, the best Edinburgh portraitist of his time, painting most of the nobility, gentry and lawyers.
In 1723, encouraged by the Duke of Argyll, he moved to London where he was not only patronised by Scots, but became well known in literary circles and the friend of Pope, Gray, Thomson and others.
He died in London but by his wish was buried in Grey Friars Church, Edinburgh.
This portrait, with its painterly delight in manipulating the medium, shows a more bravura approach than his later style in London when he adopted a 'smoother' manner consciously emulating Sir Godfrey Kneller, Principal Painter to the King.
Size:38 x 33 inc. frame.
Provenance: by descent, Scottish private collection. Verso: fragment of 19th c. Edinburgh framer's label.
Roy and nadine precious: specialists in portraiture from the 16th to the 20th century. Established in 1972.
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Sold...portrait Said to Be of Mrs. Mcfarlane, Daughter of the First Baronet Halkett of Pitfirrane C.1715; by William Aikman
