Thought for two centuries to have been lost, an authenticated portrait of the famous Scottish poet Robert Burns by the renowned Edinburgh artist Sir Henry Raeburn has gone on display at the city’s National Galleries of Scotland been found, 200 years after its creation.

The painting of Robert Burns was found during a house clearance in Surrey, England and consigned to auction in Wimbledon, London in March last year, with a starting price of between £300 and £500. The winning bid was £68,000: Dr William (Bill) Zachs, Director of Blackie House Library and Museum in Edinburgh and long-term Burns scholar and enthusiast, understood the painting could be a work, commissioned in 1803 for 20 guineas by the publishers Cadell & Davies.

The painting was intended to be engraved for future editions of Burns’ books, but had not been seen since, and its whereabouts remained a mystery for many decades: writing in 1924, T C F Brotchie, Director of Glasgow Art Galleries and Museums, wrote that the painting’s discovery would be ‘an event bordering upon the sensational’, and the painting’s whereabouts have been the subject of speculation among lovers of Robert Burns and art experts alike. Various portraits of Burns have been attributed to Raeburnover decades but all have been dismissed and the painting had been thought lost, until now.

Only 37 when he died, Robert Burns had achieved considerable fame during his lifetime, with his fame growing further in the 19th and 20th centuries, and his popularity was such that in 1802 publishers Cadell & Davies commissioned this new version of Alexander Nasmyth’s original 1787 portrait, for use in future publications. They were advised by Burns’ friend Alexander Cunningham, the custodian of the Nasmyth painting, to give the job to Henry Raeburn (1756–1823), then (and now) one of Scotland’s most celebrated painters, known especially for his portraiture. Raeburn scaled-up his version to life-size, adding his characteristically effortless, expressive brushstrokes, and using a warm colour palette.

Since cleaning and examination, several experts have agreed that this is the lost Raeburn portrait of Burns. Zachs is lending the painting to the National Galleries of Scotland, to go on display for free at National Galleries Scotland and then to travel to the Robert Burns Birthplace Museum (National Trust for Scotland) in Alloway, where it will be on display from 21st July.