A man holding a set of bagpipes. Engraving by R.C. Bell after Sir D. Wilkie.

"The Vernon gallery. The bagpiper. Sir D. Wilkie, R.A., painter. R. C. Bell, engraver. Size of the picture 10 in. by S in. This figure belongs to that class of subject which is closely identified with the reputation of the painter, and which, though regarded as a low order of art, his genius deservedly rendered popular. It would have been strange indeed, with a taste ever inclining him, at least till towards the latter part of his career, to the humorous and satirical, if he had not given the world his idea of a Scotch piper, that notable personage familiarly connected with Scottish scenes and events. And he has certainly presented us with a worthy specimen, a merry jovial-looking fellow, who, with his bonnet set jauntily on one side of his head, seems ready for wake, or fair, or ale-house "gathering of the clans," and whose iron-knitted frame seems well adapted for long wanderings over heath and moor to rouse into action, with his instrument, the national heart of his native land for feast or foray. The picture is of Wilkie's earlier period, and it is painted with more freedom and vigour than are found in most of his subsequent works, when he seemed to have paid greater attention to finish, and became more mannered in his style of colouring."--The art journal, loc. cit.