Dr. Blair

A half length, seated portrait of the Scottish Presbyterian preacher and author Dr. Hugh Blair (1718-1800). He is depicted as an elderly gentleman seated in a comfortable chair in his study, wearing clerical bands, and velvet trimmed clergyman’s robes. Hugh Blair graduated from Edinburgh University in 1739. Licensed to preach by the presbytery of Edinburgh in 1741, he was ordained minister of Collessie in Fife the following year.
There then followed in fairly quick succession three posts in Edinburgh. He became second minister of the Canongate in 1743, Lady Yester’s church in 1754, and the high church of St Giles in 1758. He remained there for the rest of his life. In 1760, the Council of Edinburgh appointed him Professor of Rhetoric and two years later created a Regius Chair of Rhetoric and Belles Lettres for him, reflecting the reputation he had gained as both a preacher and a literary figure.