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Ossian and Visual Art: Mislaid and Rediscovered
Author(s) -
Macdonald Murdo
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
journal for eighteenth‐century studies
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.129
H-Index - 11
eISSN - 1754-0208
pISSN - 1754-0194
DOI - 10.1111/1754-0208.12391
Subject(s) - exhibition , painting , art , perspective (graphical) , art history , visual arts , contemporary art , performance art
Abstract The pioneering Ossian exhibitions held in Paris and Hamburg in 1974 focused on the response of northern European artists to James Macpherson's work. A broader perspective is considered here, which includes recent research on the Ossianic dimension of both the English landscape painter J. M. W. Turner and his close contemporary the Italian sculptor and graphic artist Luigi Zandomeneghi. A fresh view is taken of the importance to southern European artists of Cesarotti's translation of Ossian into Italian in 1763, and of the sustained influence in Italy of the image of Ossian attributed to the eighteenth‐century Scottish artist Alexander Runciman.