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John and Cosmo Alexander: Of Recusancy, Jacobites and Aberdeen Junctures
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 16 February 2015
Abstract
The lives and work of eighteenth-century Scottish artists John and Cosmo Alexander, father and son, were dedicated to the Jacobite cause. They were men of a culture that was distinct to their own region, that of the north-east of Scotland, which from the late fifteenth century had been centred on the university circles of Aberdeen. In microcosm, the experiences of those in these circles reflected the oscillating tests of faith and fealty of that era. Assumed to be Catholics, and from a family which numbered at least one priest among its number, between them the Alexanders survived the turbulent times of the eighteenth-century Jacobite Risings. Both were wanted men after the 1746 Battle of Culloden. Drawing on local evidence, this paper explores the religious, political and social landscape surrounding the works with an Aberdeen connection produced by both John and Cosmo Alexander. All can be seen to demonstrate that the enduring bonds of faith and fealty, which, perforce, may not always have been openly displayed, could be reinforced through the subtle deployment of the painted image.
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References
Notes
1 Apted, Michael R. and Hannabuss, Susan, Painters in Scotland 1302–1700 (The Edina Press Edinburgh, 1978), p. 22.Google Scholar
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12 AU MS K 43, King’s College Senatus Minutes, 1733–1754, p. 239. ‘Mr Norie’ was Robert Norie, a member of the renowned Edinburgh-based family company of painters and decorative artists.
13 AU MS K 257/5/5-K 257/6/3, King’s College Procuration Vouchers 1755–60, voucher no. 4/24.
14 AU MS K 257/5/5-K 257/6/3, King’s College Procuration Vouchers 1755–60, voucher no. 5/15.
15 King’s and Marischal Colleges were merged to become the University of Aberdeen in 1860.
16 Thom, Walter, The History of Aberdeen, 2 vols (Aberdeen 1811), vol 2, p. 201 Google Scholar. The Concert Hall (now the site of the Advocates’ Hall, built 1869) was located in Concert Court in Aberdeen, which is in the close vicinity of Marischal College.
17 Aberdeen Central Library, Aberdeen Musical Society Minutes, 2 vols, vol 1, 5 February 1757.
18 Aberdeen Central Library, Aberdeen Musical Society Minutes, 2 vols, vol 1, 5 February 1757.
19 Aberdeen Central Library, Aberdeen Musical Society Minutes, 2 vols, vol 2, 6 August 1807. In 2005, the Aberdeen Musical Society was finally and successfully re-established thanks to Peter Davidson, Professor of Renaissance Studies at the University of Aberdeen, and St Cecilia’s feast day is now celebrated annually, as before, with a special concert. University of Aberdeen, Media Releases, 21 October 2005, http://www.abdn.ac.uk/mediareleases/release.php?id=425
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24 There is a very full discussion of The Sibyls in M. R. Pryor, Painting the Profile: Imagery and Identity in the Collections of King’s and Marischal Colleges, 1495–1860, 2 vols (unpublished PhD thesis, University of Aberdeen, 2002), vol. 1, pp. 61–134.
25 As noted by William Knight, by c.1825 St Cecilia had been moved from the library to the Public Hall at Marischal College to join the official art collection. AU MS M 111, Knight, William, Marischal College Notes (undated), p. 1289 Google Scholar.
26 The original series, which comprised twelve Sibyls, was presented to King’s College, in 1641, by Dr William Guild, a relative by marriage of George Jamesone, soon after his appointment as Principal of that College in 1640. The Sibyls hung in the Common Hall, which formed the place of daily prayers and all official events at the College.
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29 Droeshout’s images were in turn drawn from a set by the Netherlandish engraver Crispjin van de Passe the Elder (c.1564–1637). Bath, Michael, Renaissance Decorative Painting in Scotland (NMS Publishing Edinburgh 2003), p. 192 Google Scholar.
30 The feasibility of Jamesone seeing the embroidery patterns was because the womenfolk in Jamesone’s family were known needlewomen, including Jean Guild, sister of William Guild (the Principal of King’s College and donor of The Sibyls) and Mary Jamesone, George Jamesone’s daughter. Embroidered hangings of Old Testament scenes in the Kirk of St Nicholas Uniting, in the centre of Aberdeen, include work by each of these women.
31 AU K 257/8/1-K 257/8/3, King’s College Procuration Vouchers, 1760–63, voucher no. 1/28.
32 AU MS K 257/8/4-K 257/8/5, King’s College Procuration Vouchers, 1763–65, voucher no. 5/30.
33 An indicator of Deskford’s interest in art was that, in 1762, he was offering to provide funding for some of Mosman’s pupils at King’s College. AU MS K 45, King’s College Senatus Minutes, 1761–65, p.107.
34 For the full discussion of the radiographic examination of Sibyl Europæa and Sibyl Ægyptiaca see Pryor, M. R., Painting the Profile: Imagery and Identity in the Collections of King’s and Marischal Colleges, 1495–1860, 2 vols (unpublished PhD thesis, University of Aberdeen, 2002), vol. 1, pp. 123–134.Google Scholar
35 Hall, James, Hall’s Dictionary of Subjects and Symbols in Art (John Murray Revised Edition London 1995), p. 129 Google Scholar.
36 Translation: ‘This and the other nine images of the Sibyls restored by Alexr. AD 1761’. At the time of writing, Sibyl Ægyptiaca is undergoing restoration, which should improve the clarity of the inscription.
37 Hall, James, Hall’s Dictionary of Subjects and Symbols in Art (John Murray Revised Edition London 1995), p. 282 Google Scholar.