Dr. James Hamilton Senior (1749-1835) Edinburgh Physician   Artist   Sir Henry RAEBURN (as artist) Title   Dr. James Hamilton Senior (1749-1835) Edinburgh Physician    Previous Title   Dr. Benjamin Bell (1749-1806)    Date   c.1790 Medium   Oil on canvas Dimensions   90(H) x 71(W) Inscription   none Acquisition   Purchased from Sotheby's, 4 July 2001 Number   17618 Description Dr. James Hamilton, seen here at about the age of 40, was a prominent and well-respected physician in late 18th- and early 19th-century Edinburgh. He worked at the Royal Infirmary, the Trades Maiden Hospital and George Heriot¿s Hospital, a school which had earlier been attended by Henry Raeburn. Hamilton authored a successful medical text book, `Observations on the Utility and Administration of Purgative Medicines¿, first published in 1805, which ran to eight editions. He was known in his later years as one of the last of Edinburgh¿s residents to wear 18th-century clothing and his three-cornered cocked-hat led to the nickname `Cocky Hamilton¿. Henry Raeburn painted Dr. Hamilton three times. The latest portrait, commissioned by the Trades Maiden Hospital, is now in a private collection. A slightly early version is in the collection of Lord Moncreiff of Tullibole Castle and this, the first of the three portraits, was purchased through Christie¿s, the fine art auctioneers, in 2001, from a descendant of a surgeon named Benjamin Bell. Bell and Hamilton studied together in Paris and both later worked at the Royal Infirmary in Edinburgh. Bell married Hamilton¿s sister, Grizel, in 1775 and numerous members of the Bell family were painted by Raeburn, who undoubtedly became something of a family friend. Sir Henry Raeburn was born in 1756 in Stockbridge, Edinburgh. He studied in Rome between 1784 and 1786, and established his career in Edinburgh on his return, becoming the city¿s leading portrait painter. Raeburn briefly visited London with a view to settling there in 1810, but was dissuaded and continued to dominate the Edinburgh scene until his death. His success was acknowledged through his appointment as President of the Society of Scottish Painters in 1812, his knighthood of 1822 and a further appointment as King's Painter for Scotland in 1823, the year he died.