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Portrait of a visionary whose dream lives on

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From: The Scotsman
Date: 20080118
Author:Duncan MacMillan

IN THE magnificent foyer of the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, three great Scots stand full-length, immortalised in marble: Robert Burns, James Watt and Thomas Carlyle. There are busts of Scott and Stevenson and other Scottish Greats, but only one painted portrait. The sitter, J Ritchie Findlay, is not obviously one of this company, although his portrait is displayed in a gold frame so magnificent it is more like a shrine. He was, in fact, the proprietor of this newspaper. So why is he so honoured?

Though he is otherwise an unsung hero, Findlay was a remarkable man, a philanthropist ...

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