Genius Fan

Look up! When you step off the street and into the foyer of the Scottish National Portrait Gallery in Edinburgh you’ll see above you a wonderful parade of figures from Scotland’s history. There are 155 full length portraits on the face of the first floor balcony. Above the entrance this processional frieze starts and ends with a portrait of Caledonia. Working clockwise the characters are facing right (or straight out at you) as if looking back in time.

See Part 1: Eighteenth Century Scottish Heroes

Eighteenth century portraits

I only focus on the section from the Eighteenth century, but I’m interpreting this broadly, ie. if you lived in the Eighteenth century, then you’re in. And if you were a child when this hallowed century ended, or not born at all, then you’re out…unless your life is particularly pertinent to Scotland’s Eighteenth century. The portraits, by English artist William Hole (1846-1917) start with historian and writer Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881) to the right of Caledonia and work around all four sides of the foyer to end at the Stone Age.

Processional frieze figures, Part 2

Here’s the list of figures which are further back in time, in the Eighteenth century, than those in Part 1 of this series:

• Ewen Macpherson of Cluny (1706-1764):
• Flora MacDonald (1722-1790):
• Charles Edward Stuart (1720-1788): Also known as Bonnie Prince Charlie, or the Young Pretender.
• David cameron of Lochiel (1695-1748): Known as ‘Gentle Lochiel’ he was a prominent Jacobite and went into hiding with Bonnie Prince Charlie before both escaped to France.
• Allan Ramsay (1686-1758): Poet and literary figure from the early Scottish Enlightenment
• James Thomson (1700-1748): Composer of the song, Rule Brittania
• John Erskine, 6th Earl of Mar (1675-1732):
• Andrew Fletcher (1655-1716):
• Archibald Campbell, 3rd Duke of Argyll (1678-1743):
• John Dalrymple, 2nd Earl of Stair (1673-1747):
• John Graham of Claverhouse, 1st Viscount Dundee (1648-1689):
• James VII and II (1633-1701): Ruled Great Britain from 1685-1689, then fled to France where he died in exile.