From an Antique Land: Visual Representations of the Highlands, 1700 – 1880

325 Pages·2013·8.6 MB·English

by  Anne MacLeod

From an Antique Land

This eBook edition published in 2013 by
Birlinn Limited
West Newington House
Newington Road
Edinburgh
EH9 1QS
www.birlinn.co.uk
Copyright © Anne MacLeod 2012
First published in 2012 by John Donald, an imprint of Birlinn Ltd
The moral right of Anne MacLeod to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by her in
accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored or transmitted in any form
without the express written permission of the publisher.
ISBN: 978-1-906566-53-1
eBook ISBN: 978-1-907909-07-8
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
For my parents
Contents
List of Illustrations
List of Abbreviations
Acknowledgements
Introduction
CHAPTER 1
‘A Task Altogether Impracticable’: Facing the Classical Ideal
CHAPTER 2
‘Plain Middle Class Men’: Towards a New Art Market
CHAPTER 3
‘Rude Stones’: Prehistoric and Medieval Antiquities
CHAPTER 4
‘The Graceful Garb’: Depictions of Highland Dress
CHAPTER 5
‘Curiosity and Barbarism’: The Highlander at Work
CHAPTER 6
‘The Pastimes of a Mountain Race’:
Domestic Life and Leisure
CHAPTER 7
‘So Torn and Convulsed’:
Confronting the Highland Landscape
CHAPTER 8
‘A Wonderful Orderliness’: Time and the Imagination
Conclusion
Notes
Bibliography
Index
List of Illustrations
BLACK AND WHITE
1 Attributed to Edward Lhuyd, ‘On a Hill Above the Upper End of Loch
Kreigness in Argileshire’, c.1699–1700.
2 ‘Castle Troddan and Castle Tellve’, after a drawing by Alexander Gordon, in
Alexander Gordon, Itinerarium Septentrionale: or a Journey thro’ Most of
the Counties of Scotland, and those in the North of England (London, 1726),
pl. 65.
3 ‘Danish Edifices’, after a drawing by Moses Griffith, in Thomas Pennant, A
Tour in Scotland and Voyage to the Hebrides, 1772 (2 vols, Chester, 1774–
6), I, pl. 41.
4 ‘Dun Dornadilla’, after a drawing by Charles Cordiner, in Charles Cordiner,
Antiquities and Scenery of the North of Scotland, in a Series of Letters to
Thomas Pennant (London, 1780), pl. 19.
5 James Skene, ‘Pictish Towers in Glenelg’, 1804, from an album of drawings
of Highland scenes.
6 ‘Druidical Stone near Strather, Barvas, Isle of Lewis’, after a drawing by
William Daniell, in William Daniell, A Voyage Round Great Britain (8 vols,
London, 1814–26), IV, pl. facing 64.
7 James Miller, North West View of the Nunnery, Pen and Wash and
Watercolour, 1775.
8 ‘At Keils, in Knapdale, Argyllshire’, after a drawing by Alexander Gibb, in
John Stuart, The Sculptured Stones of Scotland (2 vols, Aberdeen and
Edinburgh, 1856–67), II, pl. 32.
9 James Skene, ‘Iona’, n.d., from an album of drawings of Highland scenes.
10 ‘View from Port Sliganach’, after a drawing by Henry Davenport Graham, in
Henry Davenport Graham, Antiquities of Iona (London, 1850), pl. 50.
11 ‘South West View of Kilcairn Castle in Lock Aw’, after a drawing by Paul
Sandby, in Paul Sandby, The Virtuosi’s Museum (London, 1778), pl. 50.
12 ‘View of Brochel Castle in Rasay’, after a drawing by John MacCulloch, in
John MacCulloch, A Description of the Western Islands of Scotland (3 vols,
London and Edinburgh, 1819), III, pl. 2.
13 ‘Inverlochy Castle’, after a drawing by James Melville, in Landscape-
Historical Illustrations of Scotland and the Waverley Novels, ed. G. N.
Wright (2 vols, London, 1836–8).
14 ‘Fingal and Fillan discovering Cuthullin’, after a drawing by Richard
Corbould, in James Macpherson, The Poems of Ossian (2 vols, Glasgow,
Cameron and Murdoch, 1797), I, pl. facing 60.
15 ‘Figures in Highland Dress’, after a drawing by an unknown artist, in Edward
Burt, Letters from a Gentleman in the North of Scotland to His Friend in
London (2 vols, London, 1754), II, pl. facing 60.
16 Illustration to the poem ‘Fingal’, after a drawing by David Allan, in James
Macpherson, The Poems of Ossian, the Son of Fingal (2 vols, Perth, Morison,
1795), I, pl. facing 56.
17 Diploma certificate for the Highland Society of London, engraved by Luke
Clennell after a drawing by Benjamin West, 1805.
18 ‘Portrait of a Highland Chief’, after a drawing by Charles Edward Stuart, in
John Sobieski Stolberg and Charles Edward Stuart, The Costume of the Clans
(Edinburgh, 1845), pl. 8.
19 ‘Highland Carts’, after a drawing by an unknown artist, in Edward Burt,
Letters from a Gentleman in the North of Scotland to His Friend in London (2
vols, London, 1754), I, pl. facing 86.
20 ‘Old Times/New Times’, after a drawing by A. MacInnes, in Sir Francis
MacKenzie, Hints for the Use of Highland Tenants and Cottagers (Inverness,
1838), frontispiece.
21 Attributed to Paul Sandby, ‘Women with a Cart’, from a sketchbook of
drawings made in the Highlands, c.1747.
22 Diagram of the Cas-Chròm, from John Home’s ‘Observations on the Farm of
Oldernay’, Survey of Assynt, 1774.
23 ‘Cas-Chròm’, after a drawing by an unknown artist, in James MacDonald,
General View of the Agriculture of the Hebrides, or Western Isles of
Scotland, with Observations on the Means of their Improvement (Edinburgh,
1811), frontispiece.
24 ‘Rose’, after a drawing by R. R. McIan, in R. R. McIan and James Logan,
The Clans of the Scottish Highlands (2 vols, London, 1845).
25 ‘Loch Ranza Bay, and the Manner of Taking the Basking Shark’, after a
drawing by Moses Griffith, in Thomas Pennant, A Tour in Scotland, and
Voyage to the Hebrides, 1772 (2 vols, Chester, 1774–6), I, pl. 13.
26 Title cartouche from ‘The Lewis, or North Part of the Long Island’, in
Murdoch Mackenzie, Orcades: or a Geographic and Hydrographic Survey of
the Orkney and Lewis Islands, in Eight Maps (London, 1750).
27 Title cartouche from John Ainslie, Scotland Drawn and Engrav’d from a
Series of Angles and Astronomical Observations (Edinburgh and London,
1789).
28 J. M. W. Turner, Inveraray, Loch Fyne, Watercolour on paper, c.1803.
29 James Skene, ‘Castle Lachlan, Argyleshire, 6 Aug 1834’, from an album of
drawings of Highland scenes.
30 ‘Tarbert Castle’, after a drawing by Edmund J. Crawford, in John Parker
Lawson, Scotland Delineated in a Series of Views (2 vols, London, 1854), II,
pl. facing 308.
31 John Claude Nattes, ‘Distillery of Callander’, from a series of sketches of
Scottish scenes, 1799.
32 Frontispiece illustration after a drawing by John Francis Campbell, in John
Francis Campbell, Popular Tales of the West Highlands (4 vols, Edinburgh,
1860–2), IV.
33 ‘Highland Township’, after a drawing by an unknown artist, in Edward Burt,
Letters from a Gentleman in the North of Scotland to His Friend in London (2
vols, London, 1754), I, pl. facing 120.
34 Joseph Farington, ‘The Structure of a Moss House’, from sketches
accompanying an account of a tour in Scotland, 1792.
35 David Allan, The Scottish Highland Family, 1795.
36 William Simson, Interior of a Cottage at Killin, Watercolour on paper, 1833.
37 ‘Washing Customs in the Highlands’, after a drawing by an unknown artist,
in Edward Burt, Letters from a Gentleman in the North of Scotland to His
Friend in London (2 vols, London, 1754), I, pl. facing 52.