Society-funded Research

Scots in 18th Century Rome

Key actors in the cultural, artistic and diplomatic life of the Eternal City.

Marion Amblard of the University of Grenoble applied for a Society of Antiquaries of Scotland grant for a project to research connections between Scotland and Rome in the 18th Century.

In April 2023, I had the pleasure and honour to be awarded a grant from the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, which enabled me to undertake a research visit to Edinburgh. My application for this funding was motivated by my project to publish a book entitled Scots in 18th-century Rome. Key actors in the cultural, artistic and diplomatic life of the Eternal City. This volume will focus on the period stretching from 1719 to 1798, a pivotal time in the history of both Scotland and Rome. Indeed, it was in 1719 that the Stuarts, the exiled British royal family of Scottish origins, settled in Rome with their court, which was partly made up of Scots. In 1798, the Eternal City was invaded by French troops and, for a few years, this political context contributed to limit the number of travellers from Scotland. This study aims to shed light on a little-known episode in the history of Scotland in the eighteenth century, as the Scottish community in Rome has received little scholarly attention thus far. There are many publications on the Grand Tour and the Jacobites, but these focus on the British in general. Yet, as Professor Murray Pittock has pointed out, the way in which the Scots experienced and perceived the journey to Rome, and to Italy more generally, was very different from that of the English.1 The purpose of this volume is to study how and why the Scottish experience of Rome was different from that of the English and contributed to help the Scots forge a multifaceted identity, being Scottish, British and European. It will show that the history of Scotland was closely linked to that of the Eternal City, thereby reminding us of the strong connections Scotland had with the European continent. It will also investigate the influence the Scots in 18th-century Rome exerted on the cultural, artistic, social and diplomatic life in Scotland and in the Eternal City which was considered at the time as “the capital of the antique and the crossroads of Europe”. 

Thanks to the support of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, I was able to spend two weeks in Edinburgh, where I had the opportunity to study at the National Library of Scotland, the National Records of Scotland, the Edinburgh University Library and at the National Galleries of Scotland. My main objective for this research trip was to consult travel accounts, letters, drawings and paintings by Scots who visited Rome in the 18th century, in order to write two chapters of the first part of my book, which deals with the plurality of profiles and experiences of the Scots who travelled to the Eternal City.  

The first chapter is mainly based on unpublished documents, including travel diaries and correspondence. Together with the published travel accounts, these manuscripts not only help to identify different categories among the Scots who visited Rome but also to understand the reasons why so many of them undertook the journey. Thus among the Scottish community in the Eternal City, one can distinguish: the Grand Tourists who visited Rome as part of their educational journey to the Continent; students who were trained for priesthood at the Scots College; artists who came to complete their training in the city’s academies and in the studios of some of the leading painters of the time; art dealers, who were key players on the Roman and British art markets during the second half of the 18th century. The last main category of Scots to visit Rome was composed of Jacobites, who represented a certain number of travellers up to 1766, year of the death of James Francis Stuart, also known as The Old Pretender. It is to be noted that a member of the Scottish community could fall into several categories, as was the case of James Byres, who lived in Rome between 1758 and 1790 and was a Jacobite, an artist and an art dealer. Thanks to the various documents on deposit at the National Library of Scotland, including a notebook of accounts between James Byres and Patrick Moir (Acc. 13900) and some papers concerning James Byres, antiquary (Acc. 14324/5), it is possible to catch a glimpse of Byres’s Roman years. The travel diaries and letters I consulted in Edinburgh give valuable insight into the Scots’ activities and of the contacts they established during their stay. The letter books of Andrew Lumisden, held by the National Library of Scotland, provide a wealth of information. Lumisden, who was Secretary of James Francis Stuart and then of his son Charles Edward, describes in great detail the diplomatic life in Rome between 1749 and 1769 and the activities of the Jacobite community. Thanks to the diaries of Sir William Forbes and of Patrick Home, respectively in deposit at the National Library of Scotland and at the National Records of Scotland, it is possible to learn in detail about the activities of these two travellers during their stay in Rome. In their accounts, both travellers reveal that the Scots were often in contact with members of other foreign communities, particularly the French, with whom the Scots had maintained close links for centuries. Their accounts also reveal that the Scots tended to socialise with their compatriots and had a strong sense of solidarity. Indeed, the Scots who settled permanently in Rome were always willing to offer help and advice to their fellow countrymen. For example, Sir William Forbes visited Rome with Patrick Moir and he frequented Gavin Hamilton and Jacob More, who were some of the most famous painters in Rome at the time. When he attended the various celebrations organised at Easter, Forbes met so many compatriots that he had the impression that he was in Edinburgh.  

The second chapter I will write, as a result of my research stay in Edinburgh, will focus on the pictorial records by Scottish painters who visited Rome and will be based on the paintings and above all the drawings and sketches held by the National Galleries of Scotland. These works illustrate the way Rome and its inhabitants were perceived by Scottish painters. David Allan lived in the city from 1767 to 1776 and he made numerous sketches showing scenes of the daily life in Rome, including A Hermit on the Appian Way (P6091), Fishmonger of Rome (D44971) and Preaching in the Colosseum, Rome (P6095). He also made elaborate drawings representing the carnival which, each year, attracted a great number of foreign travellers, including many Scots. His sketchbooks, which are full of drawings inspired by antique bas-relief and sculptures, remind us of the importance of a prolonged stay in Rome for Scottish artists. This allowed them to complete their artistic training by joining a painter’s studio and attending classes at the French Academy of Rome or at the Saint Luke Academy. In Rome, they also had the opportunity to copy works by artists who were, at the time, considered to be examples to follow, such as the great masters of the Italian Renaissance, including Raphael, whose paintings were copied by Allan Ramsay. Along with the unpublished travel diaries and correspondence, the drawings and paintings made by Scottish artists show that the time spent in Rome by painters and art collectors had a deep impact on the development of painting in Scotland and also contributed to the evolution of tastes in Scottish art collecting with a particular interest for Italian painting. 

I would like to thank the President and Officers of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland for their support and encouragement in this project. I would also like to thank the members of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland who have shown an interest in my work and who have been kind enough to share with me their research on subjects related to my project. Finally, I would like to thank the staff of the National Library of Scotland, the National Records of Scotland, Edinburgh University Library and the National Galleries of Scotland for their advice, which helped me to make the most of my research visit. 

Image: A page from Sir William Forbes Journal (c) Marion Amblard

A page from a diary with cursive handwriting