The Human Face

The origins of the portrait collection seem to be entwined with the origins of the University itself. It was founded as a Reformation college under the patronage of James VI. At just that moment James was also patron of the publication in Geneva by Theodore Beza (or de Beze) of a book that celebrated the achievement of the great men of the Reformation through their portraits. A similar series of portraits hung in the Library from a very early date both as a statement of the University's origins and as an example to the young of the power of the individual intellect to change the world. The portrait collection has continued to play that role ever since, commemorating individuals and their achievements and associating them with the wider history of the institution.

In the late 19th century, on the initiative of Principal David Brewster, the University began systematically to expand the collection, and so it now numbers more than 400 items and is second only to that of the Scottish National Portrait Gallery.

In paintings like Raeburn's portrait of William Robertson, or in a sculpture like William Gowan's bust of William Cullen, portraiture not only commemorates great individuals, but also gives us an insight into their essential humanity. By this route, art again became a partner with science. Andrew Duncan pioneered the humane treatment of mental illness, but once the idea of mental illness was established at all, portraiture and the study of physiognomy and expression were seen as a useful tool in its study and a route into the mind. It was for this reason that Charles Bell's investigation of the brain and into the nature of the nervous system led him also to make a significant contribution to the history of art. Darwin continued this study of expression and indeed in the present it continues still in the work of Professor Vicki Bruce, Head of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences here at Edinburgh.