Scottish Portraiture 1644-1714. David and John Scougall and Their Contemporaries is a two-volume hardback publication on Scottish portraiture form the period 1644 to 1714, with particular focus on the painters David Scougall (1625-1685), and his son John Scougall (1657-1737). Considered the first comprehensive book on this theme, the academic contribution is based on art historical and archival research and provides some biographical information. The book also includes a catalogue of artworks by David Scougall.
Social and artistic aspects are analysed to present the historical context where the portraits where created, discussing the lives of artists contemporaries of the Scougalls, such as portraitist L. Schüneman his successor James Carrudus, whose work is identified for the first time in this book, David Paton, Jacob Jacobsz de Wet and Sir John Baptist Medina. An overview of the next generation is provided, highlighting the principal portrait painters, such as William Aikman, Richard Waitt and John Alexander. Countless paintings have been photographed, some for the first time, and have been compared in detail, while information on technical aspects is also included.
The book shows how the works of the portrait painters in Scotland from this period form a solid bridge between the portraits painted prior to George Jamesone’s death in 1644, and those by the renowned Scottish painters of the eighteenth century.
Carla van de Puttelaar (1967, The Netherlands) is an artist and art historian. She holds a PhD in Art History from Utrecht University (2017). In 1996, she graduated from the Gerrit Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam. Since then, her photographic work has gained worldwide recognition, and has been exhibited and published extensively. Her skills as a photographer were an important asset in producing the illustrations in this publication.
