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Actions Displays	Robert Burns Remove from selection Add to selection Reproduction Download mediaDownload as zip file Object number05783 TitleRobert Burns CreatorUnknown (Artist)‎ DescriptionThis portrait of Robert Burns was painted in 1859, the centenary of his birth. It was a momentous year and commemorative events were held all over the world to celebrate his life and work. Here, our national Bard is very fashionably dressed; his literary prowess evident from the leatherbound volume in one hand and the quill and ink bottle in the other. The artist has captured the darkly handsome good looks that were so attractive to the lassies who inspired many of his works. Burns’ other passions are present in his writing, especially politics and the story of Scotland itself. His travels took him throughout central Scotland to the Highlands, including two visits to Stirling in 1787. Dismayed at the ruinous state of the royal palace, Burns scratched the pro-Jacobite ‘Stirling Lines’ on a window-pane at the Wingate Hotel (now The Golden Lion). Warned that his poem could be considered treasonous, he later returned and smashed the pane, but not before it had been written down for posterity. You can see the ‘Stirling Lines’ etched in slate at our museum entrance today. Burns was also drawn to Stirling’s role in the story of Scotland, as the gateway to the north, the key to power. Inspired by Blind Harry’s epic poem ‘The Wallace’, he visited many of the places mentioned in that tale. This interest is reflected in some of the songs and poems Burns wrote and collected, including ‘Scots Wha Hae’, ‘By Allan Stream’ and the ‘Bob O’Dumblane’. Object namePainting, Oil Painting Painting MaterialOil/Canvas Dimensions image Width: 630 mm image Height: 740 mm

Reproduction

Download mediaDownload as zip file

Object number05783

TitleRobert Burns

CreatorUnknown (Artist)‎

DescriptionThis portrait of Robert Burns was painted in 1859, the centenary of his birth. It was a momentous year and commemorative events were held all over the world to celebrate his life and work. Here, our national Bard is very fashionably dressed; his literary prowess evident from the leatherbound volume in one hand and the quill and ink bottle in the other. The artist has captured the darkly handsome good looks that were so attractive to the lassies who inspired many of his works. Burns’ other passions are present in his writing, especially politics and the story of Scotland itself. His travels took him throughout central Scotland to the Highlands, including two visits to Stirling in 1787. Dismayed at the ruinous state of the royal palace, Burns scratched the pro-Jacobite ‘Stirling Lines’ on a window-pane at the Wingate Hotel (now The Golden Lion). Warned that his poem could be considered treasonous, he later returned and smashed the pane, but not before it had been written down for posterity. You can see the ‘Stirling Lines’ etched in slate at our museum entrance today. Burns was also drawn to Stirling’s role in the story of Scotland, as the gateway to the north, the key to power. Inspired by Blind Harry’s epic poem ‘The Wallace’, he visited many of the places mentioned in that tale. This interest is reflected in some of the songs and poems Burns wrote and collected, including ‘Scots Wha Hae’, ‘By Allan Stream’ and the ‘Bob O’Dumblane’.

Object namePainting, Oil Painting

Painting

MaterialOil/Canvas

Dimensions

image Width: 630 mm
image Height: 740 mm