Scottish art is the body of visual art made in what is now Scotland, or about Scottish subjects, since prehistoric times. It forms a distinctive tradition within European art, but the political union with England has led its partial subsumation in British art.
The earliest examples of art from what is now Scotland are highly decorated carved stone balls from the Neolithic period. From the Bronze Age there are examples of carvings, including the first representations of objects, and cup and ring marks. More extensive Scottish examples of patterned objects and gold work are found the Iron Age. Elaborately carved Pictish stones and impressive metalwork emerged in Scotland the early Middle Ages. The development of a common style of Insular art across Great Britain and Ireland influenced elaborate jewellery and illuminated manuscripts such as the Book of Kells. Only isolated examples survive of native artwork from the late Middle Ages and of works created or strongly influenced by artists of Flemish origin. The influence of the Renaissance can be seen in stone carving and painting from the fifteenth century. In the sixteenth century the crown began to employ Flemish court painters who have left a portrait record of royalty. The Reformation removed a major source of patronage for art and limited the level of public display, but may have helped in the growth of secular domestic forms, particularly elaborate painting of roofs and walls. Although the loss of the court as a result of the Union of Crowns in 1603 removed another major source of patronage, the seventeenth century saw the emergence of the first significant native artists for whom names are extant, with figures such as George Jamesone and John Michael Wright.
In the eighteenth century Scotland began to produce artists that were significant internationally, all influenced by neoclassicism, such as Allan Ramsay, Gavin Hamilton, the brothers John and Alexander Runciman, Jacob More and David Allan. Towards the end of the century Romanticism began to influence artistic production, and can be seen in the portraits of artists such as Henry Raeburn. It also contributed to a tradition of Scottish landscape painting that focused on the Highlands, formulated by figures including Alexander Nasmyth. The Royal Scottish Academy of Art was created in 1826, and major portrait painters of this period included Andrew Geddes and David Wilkie. William Dyce emerged as one of the most significant figures in art education in the United Kingdom. The beginnings of a Celtic Revival can be seen in the late nineteenth century and the art scene was dominated by the work of the Glasgow Boys and the Four, led Charles Rennie Mackintosh, who gained an international reputation for their combination of Celtic revival, Art and Crafts and Art Nouveau. The early twentieth century was dominated by the Scottish Colourists and the Edinburgh School. Modernism enjoyed popularity during this period, with William Johnstone helping to develop the concept of a Scottish Renaissance. In the post-war period, major artists, including John Bellany and Alexander Moffat, pursued a strand of "Scottish realism". Moffat's influence can be seen in the work of the "new Glasgow Boys" from the late twentieth century. In the twenty-first century Scotland has continued to produce successful and influential artists such as Douglas Gordon and Susan Philipsz.
Scotland possess significant collections of art, such as the National Gallery of Scotland and National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh and the Burrell Collection and Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum in Glasgow. Significant schools of art include the Edinburgh College of Art and the Glasgow School of Art. The major funding body with responsibility for the arts in Scotland is Creative Scotland. Support is also given by local councils and independent foundations.
History
Prehistoric art
The oldest known examples of art to survive from Scotland are carved stone balls, or petrospheres, that date from the late Neolithic era. They are a uniquely Scottish phenomenon, with over 425 known examples. Most are from modern Aberdeenshire,"Carved stone ball found at Towie, Aberdeenshire", National Museums of Scotland. Retrieved 14 May 2012. but a handful of examples are known from Iona, Skye, Harris, Uist, Lewis, Arran, Hawick, Wigtownshire and fifteen from Orkney, five of which were found at the Neolithic village of Skara Brae.D. N. Marshall, "Carved Stone Balls", Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, 108, (1976/77), pp. 62–3. Many functions have been suggested for these objects, most indicating that they were prestigious and powerful possessions. Their production may have continued into the Iron Age.J. Neil, G. Ritchie and A. Ritchie, Scotland, Archaeology and Early History (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2nd edn., 1991), , p. 46.
From the Bronze Age there are extensive examples of rock art. These include cup and ring marks, a central depression carved into stone, surrounded by rings, sometimes not completed. These are common elsewhere in Atlantic Europe and have been found on natural rocks and isolated stones across Scotland. The most elaborate sets of markings are in western Scotland, particularly in the Kilmartin district. The representations of an axe and a boat at the Ri Cruin Cairn in Kilmartin, and a boat pecked into Wemyss Cave, are believed to be the oldest known representations of real objects that survive in Scotland. Carved spirals have also been found on the cover stones of burial cists in Lanarkshire and Kincardine.V. G. Childe, The Prehistory of Scotland (London: Taylor and Francis, 1935), p. 115.
By the Iron Age, Scotland had been penetrated by the wider La Tène culture.R. G. Collingwood and J. N. L. Myres, Roman Britain and the English Settlements (New York, NY: Biblo & Tannen, 2nd edn., 1936), , p. 25. The Torrs Pony-cap and Horns are perhaps the most impressive of the relatively few finds of La Tène decoration from Scotland, and indicate links with Ireland and southern Britain.J. Neil, G. Ritchie and A. Ritchie, Scotland, Archaeology and Early History, (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2nd end., 1991), , p. 119. The Stirling torcs, found in 2009, are a group of four gold torcs in different styles, dating from 300 BC and 100 BC Two demonstrate common styles found in Scotland and Ireland, but the other two indicate workmanship from what is now southern France and the Greek and Roman worlds."Iron Age Gold" , National Museums of Scotland. Retrieved 14 May 2012.
Middle Ages
In the Early Middle Ages, four distinct linguistic and political groupings existed in what is now Scotland, each of which produced distinct material cultures. In the east were the Picts, whose kingdoms eventually stretched from the River Forth to Shetland. In the west were the Gaelic (Goidelic)-speaking people of Dál Riata, who had close links with Ireland, from where they brought with them the name Scots. In the south were the British (Brythonic-speaking) descendants of the peoples of the Roman-influenced kingdoms of "The Old North", the most powerful and longest surviving of which was the Kingdom of Strathclyde. Finally, there were the English or "Angles", Germanic invaders who had overrun much of southern Britain and held the Kingdom of Bernicia (later the northern part of Northumbria), which reached into what are now the Borders of Scotland in the south-east.J. R. Maddicott and D. M. Palliser, eds, The Medieval State: Essays Presented to James Campbell (London: Continuum, 2000), , p. 48.
Only fragments of artefacts survive from the Brythonic speaking kingdoms of southern Scotland.L. R. Laing, Later Celtic Art in Britain and Ireland (London: Osprey Publishing, 1987), , pp. 37–41. Pictish art can be seen in the extensive survival of carved Pictish stones, particularly in the north and east of the country. These display a variety of recurring images and patterns, as at Dunrobin (Sutherland) and Aberlemno (Angus).J. Graham-Campbell and C. E. Batey, Vikings in Scotland: an Archaeological Survey (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1998), , pp. 7–8. There are a few survivals of Pictish silver, notably a number of massive neck-chains including the Whitecleuch Chain, and also the unique silver plaques from the cairn at Norrie's Law.S. Youngs, ed., The Work of Angels", Masterpieces of Celtic Metalwork, 6th–9th centuries AD (London: British Museum Press, 1989), , pp. 26–8. Irish-Scots art from the kingdom of Dál Riata is much more difficult to identify, but may include items such as the Hunterston brooch, which with other items such as the Monymusk Reliquary, suggest that Dál Riata was one of the places, as a crossroads between cultures, where the Insular style developed.A. Lane, "Citadel of the first Scots", British Archaeology, 62, December 2001. Retrieved 2 December 2010. Early examples of Anglo-Saxon art include metalwork, particularly bracelets, clasps and jewellery, that has survived in pagan burials and in exceptional items such as the intricately carved whalebone Franks Casket, thought to have been produced in Northumbria in the early eighth century, which combines pagan, classical and Christian motifs.C. R. Dodwell, Anglo-Saxon Art: A New Perspective (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1982), , pp. 2–4. After the Christian conversion of what is now Scotland in the seventh century, artistic styles in Northumbria interacted with those in Ireland and Scotland to become part of the common style historians have identified as insular or Hiberno-Saxon.C. E. Karkov, The Art of Anglo-Saxon England (Woodbridge: Boydell Press, 2011), , p. 5.
Insular art is the name given to the common style that developed in Britain and Ireland after the conversion of the Picts and the cultural assimilation of Pictish culture into that of the Scots and Angles,H. Honour and J. Fleming, A World History of Art (London: Macmillan), , pp. 244–7. and which became highly influential in continental Europe, contributing to the development of Romanesque and Gothic styles.G. Henderson, Early Medieval Art (London: Penguin, 1972), pp. 63–71. It can be seen in elaborate penannular brooches, often making extensive use of semi-precious stones,Youngs,The Work of Angels", Masterpieces of Celtic Metalwork, pp. 72–115, and 170–4 and D. M. Wilson, Anglo-Saxon Art: from the Seventh Century to the Norman Conquest (Overlook Press, 1984), , pp. 113–114 and 120–130. in the heavily carved high crosses found most frequently in the Highlands and Islands, but distributed across the countryJ. T. Koch, Celtic Culture: a Historical Encyclopedia, Volumes 1–5 (Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2006), , pp. 915–19. and particularly in the highly decorated illustrated manuscripts such as the Book of Kells, which may have been begun, or wholly created on Iona, the key location in Scotland for insular art. The finest era of the style was brought to an end by the disruption to monastic centres and aristocratic life by Viking raids in the late eighth century.C. R. Dodwell, The Pictorial Arts of the West, 800–1200 (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1993), , pp. 85 and 90. Later elaborate metal work has survived in buried hoards such as the St Ninian's Isle Treasure and several finds from the Viking period.Laing, Later Celtic Art in Britain and Ireland, p. 37.