On now
Blazing with Crimson | Tartan Portraits
- 1st December 2011 − 31st December 2013 | Scottish National Portrait Gallery
Signifying Scotland
In the aftermath of the Jacobites’ final defeat at the battle of Culloden in 1746 the wearing of Highland dress (except for government army uniform) was banned in Scotland. This Act was repealed in 1782 and the peaceful visit of King George IV to Scotland forty years later heralded a new era.
No longer a symbol of dissent, Highland dress had also ceased to be everyday wear for ordinary folk or a fashion statement made by a culturally and geographically distinct elite. Instead, it began to signify Scotland as a whole. The royal visit of 1822 was stage-managed by the writer, Sir Walter Scott, who encouraged all the participants, wherever they came from, to wear tartan.
