Art Minutes: "The Young Scot" by Charles Robert Leslie

Hello and welcome to Art Minutes. I'm Patricia Tomlinson, Curator at the Appleton Museum of Art. Today I would like to introduce you to a charming painting by Charles Robert Leslie. It was painted in the 19th century and it is entitled The Young Scott. Let's take a look at the painting. When we look closely, we see a young child in the center of the picture plane sitting upon what appears to be a tartan. A hat sits on the ground near the child and in the background we see what appears to be a mountainous landscape with various trees. There is also the barest suggestion of the edge of a lake at the base of the mountain. Let's take a closer look at the painting. There are two iconographic elements in this painting that point to the fact that this child is Scottish. One is of course the tartan, which is the preeminent symbol of Scottish heritage, and a search of this particular tartan pattern unfortunately did not turn up a family name. The closest that was found was the Mordant family, but it is still quite different. So it's believed that this is not an actual tartan, yet more of a symbol of the child's Scottishness. In addition, the small hat that is next to the child is a very traditional hat. It is called the Balmoral bonnet and it can be worn with either formal or informal kilt attire. One thing that I think might be surprising to modern audiences as well is that this is an image of a small boy, even though this boy is wearing a type of skirt. Traditionally in Victorian England, young boys did not wear their first pair of long trousers until they were about eight years old. Commonly before that time, they wore some type of skirt-like garment. This of course also might be a nod to the kilt that this child would later be wearing when he becomes a man. I also wanted to talk a little bit about the mountainous background that is seen beyond the figure of the child. In the 19th century, the vast majority of painters did not actually paint out in the open air. They would sketch and then go back to their studio and recreate landscapes, whether authentically or inauthentically, for paintings. So this background is probably less of an actual location than just to signify once again the mountainous highlands of Scotland where this young child was ostensibly from. I also wanted to briefly touch on the biography of the artist Charles Robert Leslie because it's a very interesting one. Charles was born in England to American parents and grew up in England. In 1833, his brother, without his consent, got him a position teaching drawing at West Point Military Academy, but it apparently didn't go well. He was only there for a short time and then promptly went back to England. In 1838, he was invited to the coronation of Queen Victoria and she was very impressed with his talent and subsequently commissioned him to create two separate artworks. This really made his career. Of course, the admiration of the Queen of England is going to be a powerful tool to use to get further commissions and further work, and he became known for both his portraiture and his genre painting. Thank you for listening and I look forward to sharing more Art Minutes with you soon. Make sure you follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.