Art, Images of Jacobites

Art Sunday; Images of the Jacobite's.

Today I have chosen various paintings by different artists that all depict some aspect of the Jacobite uprisings and the highland clearances. To get the whole story of the Jacobites and their place in history you would need to know a fair amount of Scottish History from the union of crowns (Scottish & English Crowns), in 1606, the union of parliaments (again Scottish and English Parliaments) in 1707, the three main Jacobean uprisings in 1689, 1715 and again in 1745-6 (which culminated in Jacobean defeat at the Battle of Culloden in 1746). This battle is famous for being the last battle to have been fought on British soil. All that's far too much history to go through here but, it is the background for these paintings.

Flora Macdonald
by Richard Wilson
oil on canvas, 1747
Purchased, 1985
On display in Room 11 at the National Portrait Gallery
(this painting is the one above. )
Artist
Richard Wilson (1714-1782), Mostly a landscape painter but also did several portraits.

This portrait was probably painted on MacDonald's release from the Tower in July 1747, and became well known through reproductive prints. This is probably a good likeness because she actually sat for this portrait.
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Prince Charlie's Farewell to Flora Macdonald
Artist: George William Joy
Date: 1844-1925

Joy was the son of William Bruce Joy, MD, and the brother of sculptor Albert Bruce Joy, descendants of an old Huguenot family which settled in Antrim in 1612. He was educated in London's South Kensington School of Art and later at the Royal Academy under John Everett Millais, Frederic Leighton, which left visible influences in his work. He became a member of the Royal Institute of Oil Painters in 1896 and also exhibited at the Royal Academy and the Royal Hibernian Academy.

Joy's paintings covered a variety of themes, but generally included human forms. Among Joy's works are Truth, Flora MacDonald's Farewell to Prince Charles, and The Bayswayer Omnibus. This painting, Flora MacDonalds farewell was painted almost 100 years after the event and has been heavily romanticised, This artist was painting in the era when Scottish history had been sanitised and the Victorian myth of ‘bonny Scotland’ all kilts, heather and roaming deer was fabricated.



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Thomas Faed, The Last of the Clan (1865)

Thomas Faed was born in Scotland in 1826, he trained in Edinburgh and spent most of his life in London, where he became quite successful as a painter.  Although living in England, his paintings often dealt with Scottish subjects. He tended to be a ‘social commentary’ type of painter although his paintings were often tinged with romanticism. Faed's paintings include The Last of the Clan (1865), The Poor, The Poor Man's Friend (1867), They Had Been Boys Together (1885) and The School Board in the Cottage (1892),
 His brother, John Faed (1820-1902) was also a talented artist.

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Scottish Artists/James Guthrie-The Highland Funeral, 1882

He was born in Greenock, the son of a minister. Guthrie went to the University of Glasgow to read law, but gave up his studies in 1877 to become an artist. Largely self-taught, he was associated with the 'Glasgow Boys' who were influenced by the realism in French painting of the time. Guthrie became one of the most progressive of Scottish 19th century painters. He chose his subjects from everyday life, A Highland Funeral (1881) was widely regarded as a master-piece and is today held by Glasgow Art Gallery. This is Highland culture in all its austerity and bleakness but with the dignity it deserves.

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Battle of Culloden, by David Morier

The Highland attack on the Grenadier Company of Barrell's King's Own Royal Regiment" by David Morier;
painted in 1746 for the Duke of Cumberland, reputedly using members of the regiment and highland prisoners as models.

David Morier's depiction of the Battle of Culloden shows the highlanders still wearing the plaids which they normally set aside before battle, where they would fire a volley then run full tilt at the enemy with broadsword and targe in the "Highland charge" wearing only their shirts.


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"Jacobites" by John Pettie: romantic view of Jacobitism

Born in Edinburgh, 17 March 1839; died Hastings, England, 21 Feb 1893). Scottish painter. He was brought up in Edinburgh and East Lothian, and in 1855 he entered the schools of the Trustees' Academy, Edinburgh, sponsored by the history painter James Drummond (1816-77). He studied under Robert Scott Lauder, and among his fellow students were William Orchardson, Thomas Graham (1840-1906), George Paul Chalmers (1833-78) several of whom later became part of Pettie's circle of Scottish artist friends in London.
The Jacobite struggle has been romanticised and helped create the image of the Highlander as the loyal and brave soldier. Much of the romanticisation of the Jacobite uprisings especially in 1745 is unjustified. Paintings such as these do not show the horror and depravity of the uprisings.

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Sir John Everett Millais, The Order of Release 1746  (1852-3)

This picture shows the release of a Jacobite soldier, imprisoned by the English after the defeat of Bonnie Prince Charlie’s army at the battle of Culloden in 1746. The Jacobite’s wife hands an order of release to the gaoler. Millais based the figure of the woman on his wife, Effie. He is said to have been very interested in female psychology and the woman’s detached gaze could suggest quiet determination.
-------------------------------------------------------David Allan
Portrait of Flora MacDonald
Flora macDonald by David Allan
David Allan (13 February 1744 – 6 August 1796) was a Scottish painter, best known for historical subjects.
He was born at Alloa in central Scotland. On leaving Foulis's academy of painting at Glasgow (1762), after seven years' successful study, he obtained the patronage of Lord Cathcart and of Erskine of Mar, on whose estate he had been born. Erskine made it possible for him to travel to Rome (1764), where he remained for several years engaged principally in copying the old masters.

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Artist     Ramsay, Allan
Title     : Portrait of Mary Atkins (Mrs. Martin)
Year     1761

This is a portrait of a fairly wealthy woman of the time, the contrast between her and the poverty experienced by rural Scots of the time is marked. It’s as if they live in different worlds, which I suppose they did.
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Artist   William Brassey Hole
Title The end of the 45
Medium     oil on canvas
Year           1878

The title is self explanatory, this depicts the end of the 45 uprising.
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This is David Wilkie's flattering portrait of the kilted King George IV, with lighting chosen to tone down the brightness of his kilt and his knees shown bare, without the pink tights he wore at the event.
About the same time as the ‘Dress Act’ which restricted kilt wearing was repealed in 1782, wealthy Highland Aristocrats set up so called Highland Societies in Edinburgh, London and Aberdeen. These Landowners' clubs made plans including what they termed "Improvements" but which were actually the highland Clearances. The success of the historical novels of Sir Walter Scott as well as the pomp surrounding the visit of King George IV (the imported Hanoverian king) to Scotland in 1822 spurred 19th century interest in the clans and a Victorian, romanticised, and picturesque vision of Scotland was born. To a large extent this manufactured Scottish identity is still with us today.

delete reply edtrain5 wrote on Nov 17, '08 well done, my friend. Do consider doing a series on Scottish history... I for one would find it fascinating....

delete reply kittybriton wrote on Nov 16, '08 acousticeagle said Grant is my surname and most of my descendants were Scottish. I have Andersons on the other side. So mostly Scottish. *grin* From another *mostly Scot*, Hi there, representing the Camerons and the MacPhersons.

delete reply acousticeagle wrote on Nov 16, '08 I came back to read this more carefully as I was a wee bit too tired when I first tried to read this post. You've done a very good presentation of how art was used in a poetic/symbolic representation for that time in Scottish history. I wasn't taught much history in school so history interests me, so I've learned something. The painting 'The Order of Release' says so much doesn't it? The attitude of the wife, now having her husband to care for (the battle and imprisonment having taken its toll on him) is represented by the babe she carries in her arms, and by the way her husband's head is leaning on her shoulder. She now has the burden of nurture of both those souls in her household. The look she gives to the guard is a righteous look. She is in defence of 'life', and thus her representation is a strong one, it is judgemental, but in a pure righteous way. Marvellous painting. The use of colour, light and shade - and all the pathos. The bonnie prince looks like he's wearing the Grant tartan - it may not be of course, but it looks similar. Grant is my surname and most of my descendants were Scottish. I have Andersons on the other side. So mostly Scottish. *grin*

delete reply kittybriton wrote on Nov 16, '08 I too would love to know more about this period of Scottish history. I can't help thinking that Flora MacDonald can't have had much sympathy for the Loyalist faction in the war of Independence. How did she come to be in the Americas?

delete reply elizelizeliz wrote on Nov 16, '08 I likin vari mush tis Escotopenitns.

delete reply brendainmad wrote on Nov 16, '08 Please do some blogs on Scottish history! With the exception of a couple of names, like Bonny Prince Charlie, I know very little about Scotland's history.

delete reply nemo4sun wrote on Nov 16, '08 how wonderfull - yet tragic :)

delete reply starfishred wrote on Nov 16, '08 A wonderful blog loretta thank you.

edit delete reply forgetmenot525 wrote on Nov 15, '08 veryfrank said I agree, fascinating history. I assume that the Flora MacDonald in the paintings is the same woman who was here, in North Carolina, during the Revolutionary War. There are legends here about her also. The very same, and what you say about myths etc is true, the real history often gets lost which is why i'm considering doing some stuff on this period

delete reply veryfrank wrote on Nov 15, '08 I agree, fascinating history. I assume that the Flora MacDonald in the paintings is the same woman who was here, in North Carolina, during the Revolutionary War. There are legends here about her also. We grew up with images of Scotland from old movies, Rob Roy, The Master of Ballantrae: A Winter's Tale and Brigadoon. Of course it is all romanticised and picturesque. After a brief visit in the Hebrides, which I was quite happy to leave, I started to read up some on Scot history, so disillusioned by the bonnie images that we had been fed. The paintings are wonderful and as in many Scottish paintings, the color is magnificent.

edit delete reply forgetmenot525 wrote on Nov 15, '08 Actually doing this has really inspired me, I am seriously thinking of doing a series of blogs on this period of Scottish History, it is fascinating.

delete reply aimlessjoys wrote on Nov 15, '08 Fascinating art & history, Loretta. My husband's father's family is descended from Jacobites, but by now our ideas of that long ago time & place are only wisps of notions & a few holiday traditions, perhaps. One thing is certain: in the struggles for power & self-determination, the characters who stand up for themselves are appreciated by their descendants, & ridiculed by the descendants of the victors, yet heroic to anyone who's ever made a difficult choice. These paintings are magnificent, especially the Joy & the Millais, very touching. The Guthrie could rightly be considered a masterpiece--the aftermath of romanticism, & where ARE the women in that one? Probably remembering what their grandmothers had told them, I'd say. Splendid Blog!

delete reply bennett1 wrote on Nov 15, '08 One of the most interesting thing about your blogs, Loretta, is how they spur me to want to know more, and to look at the history of Scotland and the Jacobites. We are taught so little in the US about the history of the British Isles.