Art and Identity in Scotland: A Cultural History from the Jacobite Rising of 1745 to Walter Scott (Cambridge Social and Cultural Histories)

This lively and erudite cultural history of Scotland, from the Jacobite defeat of 1745 to the death of an icon, Sir Walter Scott, in 1832, examines how Scottish identity was experienced and represented in novel ways. Weaving together previously unpublished archival materials, visual and material culture, dress and textile history, Viccy Coltman re-evaluates the standard clichés and essentialist interpretations which still inhibit Scottish cultural history during this period of British and imperial expansion. The book incorporates familiar landmarks in Scottish history, such as the visit of George IV to Edinburgh in August 1822, with microhistories of individuals, including George Steuart, a London-based architect, and the East India Company servant, Claud Alexander. It thus highlights recurrent themes within a range of historical disciplines, and by confronting the broader questions of Scotland's relations with the rest of the British state it makes a necessary contribution to contemporary concerns. "This book seeks to map the cultural contours and detours of identity by focusing on the representation of certain Scots as individuals and Scotland as a nation within Britain's global empire, from the middle decades of the eighteenth century to the early 1830s. Its conceptual starting point is a speech, specifically the fourth anniversary discourse delivered by David Stewart Erskine, the 11th Earl of Buchan, at a meeting of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland on 15 November 1784. The foundation of the society in 1780 has been described as Buchan's most memorable contribution to the cultural identity of Scotland. In it, he informed his fellow antiquarians: 'I consider Scotland my native Country as a rude but noble medallion of antient sculpture which ought not to be defaced or forgotten in the Cabinet of Nations because it lay next to one more beautiful & splendid richer and larger, more polished, and elegant, but of less relief. As a Man I felt myself a Citizen of the World, as a friend to Peace to Liberty & to Science which cannot exist asunder I considered myself as an inhabitant of a United Kingdom, but as a Citizen I could not help remembring that I was a Scot'"-- Provided by publisher This lively and erudite cultural history of Scotland, from the Jacobite defeat of 1745 to the death of an icon, Sir Walter Scott, in 1832, examines how Scottish identity was experienced and represented in novel ways. Weaving together previously unpublished archival materials, visual and material culture, dress and textile history, Viccy Coltman re-evaluates the standard cliches and essentialist interpretations which still inhibit Scottish cultural history during this period of British and imperial expansion. The book incorporates familiar landmarks in Scottish history, such as the visit of George IV to Edinburgh in August 1822, with microhistories of individuals, including George Steuart, a London-based architect, and the East India Company servant, Claud Alexander. It thus highlights recurrent themes within a range of historical disciplines, and by confronting the broader questions of Scotland's relations with the rest of the British state it makes a necessary contribution to contemporary concerns Cover 1 Half-title page 3 Title page 5 Copyright page 6 Contents 7 List of Plates 9 List of Figures 12 Acknowledgements 18 Introduction 21 Part I Beyond Scotland 41 1 Scots in Europe: ‘Making a Figure’: Painted Portraiture on the Grand Tour 43 2 Scots in London: ‘The Means of Bread with Applause’: George Steuart’s Architectural Elevation 82 3 Scots in Empire: ‘Good Fishing in Muddy Waters’: Claud Alexander in Calcutta and Catrine 124 Part II Within Scotland 157 4 The Prince in Scotland: ‘Daubed with Plaid and Crammed with Treason’: The Visual and Material Culture of Embodied Insurrection 159 Plates 163 5 The Monarch in the Metropolis: A Scopic Spectacle: George IV’s Visit to Edinburgh, August 1822 230 6 Borders Bard: ‘The Exactness of the Resemblance’: Sir Walter Scott and the Physiognomy of Romanticism 272 Conclusion: Scott-Land 305 Bibliography 315 Index 344 This lively and erudite cultural history of Scotland, from the Jacobite defeat of 1745 to the death of an icon, Sir Walter Scott, in 1832, weaves together previously unpublished archival materials, visual and material culture, dress and textile history to examine how Scottish identity was experienced and represented in novel ways.