Seller banks £30,000 from portrait of RBS founder

A PORTRAIT of the Scot whose face appears on every Royal Bank of Scotland note has sold at auction for more than £30,000.

The 1748 oil painting, by Edinburgh artist Allan Ramsay, depicts Archibald Campbell, Lord Ilay, the founder and first governor of the bank.

Another similar portrait by the same artist has featured on every denomination of RBS banknotes from £1 to £100 since 1987.

The portrait of Campbell, who later became the 3rd Duke of Argyll, went under the hammer at Bonhams’ Scottish art sale yesterday, where it was bought by a Scottish collector for £32,450.

Bonhams’ specialist Chris Brickley said: “Ramsay enjoyed the duke’s patronage and friendship for more than 20 years, and painted him a number of times.

“This portrait is more intimate than the grander ceremonial works and it is known that Ramsay used it as the primary image of the duke from which he derived later portraits.”