From Jacobitism to Romanticism: The (Re)invention of Scotland in Visual and Material Culture (U00924)

? Credit Points : 20 ? SCQF Level : 10 ? Acronym : ACE-4-HJacobit

In recent years, literary historians and to a lesser extent, art historians, have written of(f) aspects of Scottish culture as part of a 'myth' fabricated in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Perhaps most controversially for Scots, part of their national dress - the tartan kilt - has been (mis)understood as an English invention of the late eighteenth century. This course aims to get to grips with the peculiarities and particularities of these so-called 'romantic' myths of Scotland as they were (re)invented in visual and material form. It will go beyond the theoretical framework of Roland Barthes' Mythologies to reinstate their antiquity and also their much-neglected basis in reality. We will examine a number of paintings by distinguished alumni of the Scottish School, including works by Raeburn and Wilkie. But the course privileges a thematic approach to these Scottish artists and their painted output rather than a biographical one. Our timeframe will be hinged on key historical events in Scotland's history: from the 1715 and 1745 Jacobite rebellions, to the visit of George 4th to Edinburgh in 1822 and on into the later nineteenth century when the 'land of cakes and whisky', the 'region of mist and snow' became the favoured retreat of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. The visual and material culture generated in response to these historical events will be extended into that surrounding the literary phenomena that was the publication and illustration of Sir Walter Scott's poems and novels. Scott's many representations - in portraits, marble busts and sculptures and his monument in Princes Street - will be studied as part of the transformation of Scotland into 'Scott-land'. Key themes for this course include the relationship between Highland and Lowland culture as well as that between art history and material culture. Visits will be arranged to Traquair House and to Sir Walter Scott's house, Abbotsford, also in the Borders.

Entry Requirements

? Pre-requisites : A pass in either History of Art 2 or Architectural History 2a and 2b

? Prohibited combinations : This course is not available to students on the BA Humanities and Social Science degree.

Subject Areas

Home subject area

History of Art, (School of Arts, Culture and Environment, Schedule A)

Delivery Information

? Normal year taken : 4th year

? Delivery Period : Not being delivered

? Contact Teaching Time : 2 hour(s) per week for 11 weeks

? Additional Class Information : Seminars will take place on Mondays 2-3.50pm and 4.10-6pm. Students will attend one of these.

Summary of Intended Learning Outcomes

By the end of the course, students will have detailed knowledge of two hundred years of visual and material culture in Scotland. They will have tackled an ambitious secondary bibliography by academics from the discipline of art history and from other academic fields (e.g. literary history). They will be able to engage with a range of materials - all manner of objects, paintings, interiors and monuments. They will have used this accumulated knowledge to think critically and inventively about demolishing some of the cultural myths that surround Scotland. As such, they will have engaged with the conventional tools of the art historian, but in such a manner that encourages them to exploit critical theory, such as Barthes. They will have also deconstructed notions of romanticism which could be said to plague the entire legacy of art history.