In 1818, Andrew Geddes painted a remarkably penetrating likeness of Scott. The quarter-length oil portrait, measuring 21½ by 16½ inches, depicts the writer almost in full face looking downwards. Originally purchased by the collector Sir James Stuart, 7th Baronet of Allanbank, the picture now hangs in the Scottish National Portrait Gallery. Click on the thumbnail, right, to see a photogravure of the original painting.

The 1818 portrait began life as a study for Geddes's The Discovery of the Regalia of Scotland, where Scott was to figure among the Commissioners charged with unearthing the Regalia. Scott does not mention the sitting in his correspondence, and no other record of it appears to exist. It must, however, have taken place between 4 February 1818, the date of the discovery of the regalia, and the beginning of 1819 when Scott fell seriously ill. The portrait suggests that Scott's health is already deteriorating.