Portrait of Niel Gow

Scottish artist Henry Raeburn painted this Portrait of Niel Gow around 1787-1793, depicting Scotland's most celebrated fiddle player in a three-quarter length view. Gow sits in a chair wearing plaid breeches and stockings, playing his violin. Though a celebrity in both Scotland and London, Gow was the only "man of the people" painted by Raeburn whose portrait was later engraved.

Niel Gow (1727-1807) was an influential figure in Scottish traditional music. His compositions and performances helped define the Scottish fiddle tradition, and his son Nathaniel continued the family's musical legacy as a dance-band impresario and sheet music publisher. The portrait captures Gow in his natural element, instrument in hand.

The painting hangs at the Scottish National Gallery in Edinburgh. A mezzotint print by William Say, created in 1815 after Raeburn's painting, helped spread Gow's image to wider audiences when Nathaniel Gow published a new edition of his father's tunes. The portrait remains one of the most beloved images of Scottish musical heritage.