Millions around the world are gearing up to celebrate the 260th birthday of Scottish national poet Robert Burns, who wrote “Auld Lang Syne” and other beloved poetry. On or near Jan. 25 every year, an estimated 9 million people around the globe attend Burns Suppers in honor of the beloved bard. (more…)
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Picture and caption from Wikimedia Commons
Scottish National Portrait Gallery: This half-length portrait of Burns, framed within an oval, has become the most well-known and widely reproduced image of the famous Scottish poet. Nasmyth's painting, commissioned by the publisher William Creech, was to be engraved for a new edition of Burn's poems. He is shown fashionably dressed against a landscape, evoking his rural background in Alloway, Ayrshire. Burns and Nasmyth had become good friends, having been introduced to one another in Edinburgh by a mutual patron, Patrick Miller of Dalswinton. Nasmyth, pleased to have recorded Burns' likeness convincingly, decided to leave the painting in a slightly unfinished state.