Monumental portrait
The world of Baillie was captured by Thomas Gainsborough in a large (100 x 90 inches) portrait that had been intended for the RA show of 1784. It was bequeathed to the National Gallery by his son, a school-friend of Lord Byron, "Long Baillie", Alexander Baillie (1777–1855) in 1855, with provision for it to first be lent to his nephew Matthew James Higgins (1810–1868), aka Jacob Omnium; thus it passed to the national collection (now Tate Britain) in 1868.
Alexander Baillie, drawn by Ingres in 1816, was a close friend of Jørgen von Cappelen Knudtzon (1784–1854), the Norwegian. Bust portraits of both von Cappelen and Baillie were carved by Bertel Thorvaldsen. Alexander Baillie was buried in the Protestant cemetery in Naples in the same grave as writer and kinswoman Harriet Charlotte Beaujolais Campbell (died Naples 2.1848, aged 46), aka Viscountess Tullamore and Countess of Charleville, who had married (Florence, 1821) Charles Bury, 2nd Earl of Charleville, and Francois "Dominique" Joseph Loridan, Valet de Chambre to M. Alexander Baillie of Naples, Tuscany (23 April 1780 – 16 April 1853).
In November 2008 Highland News (13 November 2008) reported that local MSP David Stewart had raised the issue of Inverness Museum and Art Gallery's loan request of the Baillie family by Gainsborough at the Scottish Parliament's Question Time. He was supported by the then tourism minister Jim Mather, as well as Highland Council convener Sandy Park, Inverness Provost Jimmy Gray and Highland councillor and historian David Alston. Stewart said: "The painting is controversial because the Baillie family were involved in the slave trade. Following the emancipation of slaves in 1834 they received the equivalent of 5.5 million, which they reinvested in their estates in the Highlands and Islands... and was used to develop the Highlands through establishments like Inverness Royal Academy and the Royal Northern Infirmary. This was the only Highlander that to my knowledge was painted by Gainsborough. However, history should be seen warts and all, it's important that people know what it is. The Baillies played a big part in the development of the Highlands. It's a bit like the Highland Clearances, they are an appalling part of Highland history but people should know about it. Schools could make the painting a research project. If we got the painting on loan this would provide a huge boost to tourism in the Highlands and Islands and attract inward investment. It would be like when Caley Thistle signed Marius Niculae."
A version of this portrait which just shows Colina and Colin-Campbell by Gainsborough Dupont, it measures 36.5 x 28 inches, and has been in the Collections of Donaldson (Sir George Hunter Donaldson, Kt. (1845–1925)), Durand-Ruel and Gustavia A. Tapscott, of Richmond, Virginia, a Pomeranian breeder, who had become in 1880, Mrs Charles H. Senff. As a widow she lived at East 79th Street and Knollwood, Long Island, and died 18 November 1927. Charles H. Senff (died 1911, aged 74), of Madison Avenue and 41st street, New York, The Beeches, Whitestone, Long Island, and Curles Neck Farm (5500 acres, with 3000 acres under plantation, and 100 permanent workers. In addition there they were champion breeders of Red Polled Cattle in the USA), was a director of the American Sugar Refining Company, and associate and cousin of Henry Osborne Havemeyer. Charles Henry Senff was the son of Dr. Henry Senff by Susannah Havemeyer, daughter of Frederick C. Havemeyer of the sugar refinery company Havemeyers & Elder, which controlled most of the international sugar market, and evolved into the American Sugar Refining Company. Mr. Senff had a renowned and valuable collection of paintings, which included a Frans Hals portrait and some Corot bathing nymphs. In 1912 the collection was valued at $822,300.
