Art and Identity in Scotland
A Cultural History from the Jacobite Rising of 1745 to Walter Scott

This lively and erudite cultural history examines how Scottish identity was experienced and represented in novel ways.

Viccy Coltman (Author)

9781108417686, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 14 November 2019

320 pages, 66 b/w illus. 32 colour illus.
25.3 x 17.9 x 2.2 cm, 0.87 kg

'As a cultural history, Coltman's book is exemplary, informed by considerable new archival material, shuffling her pack of slippery identity concepts with great dexterity, and lightened by flashes of wit throughout.' Robin N. Campbell, Journal of the Scottish Society for Art History

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 Weaving together previously unpublished archival materials, visual and material culture, dress and textile history, Viccy Coltman re-evaluates the standard clichés and essentialist interpretations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.

Introduction
Part I. Beyond Scotland: 1. Scots in Europe: 'making a figure' – painted portraiture on the Grand Tour
2. Scots in London: 'the means of bread with applause' – George Steuart's architectural elevation
3. Scots in Empire: 'good fishing in muddy waters' – Claud Alexander in Calcutta and Catrine
Part II. Within Scotland: 4. The Prince in Scotland: 'daubed with plaid and crammed with treason' – the visual and material culture of embodied insurrection
5. The Monarch in the metropolis: a scopic spectacle – George IV's visit to Edinburgh, August 1822
6. Borders Bard: 'the exactness of the resemblance': Sir Walter Scott and the physiognomy of Romanticism
Conclusion: Scott-land.

Subject Areas: Material culture [JFCD], Popular culture [JFCA], Colonialism & imperialism [HBTQ], Social & cultural history [HBTB], Modern history to 20th century: c 1700 to c 1900 [HBLL], British & Irish history [HBJD1], History of art & design styles: c 1800 to c 1900 [ACV], History of art & design styles: c 1600 to c 1800 [ACQ], History of art / art & design styles [AC]