Joseph Severn

The 13^th Earl of Eglinton;
Sale, Eglinton Castle, 3 December 1925, lot 1041 (sold for £54 12s.);
Private Collection

London, Royal Academy, 1850, no. 569 (as 'The Abdication')

Art Journal, 1850, p. 176;
Ronald Parkinson, Catalogue of British Oil Paintings [in the Victoria & Albert Museum] 1820-1860, London, 1990, pp. 259-60;
Roy Strong, When Did You Last See Your Father?, London, 1978, pp. 132-34;
Helen Smailes and Duncan Thompson, The Queen's image, 1987, illus. p. 117

The canvas has been lined. There are some very minor scuff marks at the extreme upper right corner. There is some very light bitumen damage in places, particularly in the lower left quadrant. There are some light signs of craquilure and stratcher marks and light surface dirt in places.Otherwise in good condition. Ultraviolet light reveals old spots of cosmetic retouching to the upper and lower right quadrants. There is an uneven varnish. Held in a heavily decorative gold painted frame in fair condition.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

'Whilst a prisoner at Lochleven Castle, the Queen of Scots was constrained to abdicate, owing to the violence of the Lords Lindsay and Ruthven, and by the advice of Sir Robert Melville' – Sir W. Scott

The present work was described on the occasion of its being exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1850 as 'a large picture, founded on the passage of history which records the interview between Mary, Queen of Scots, and Lords Ruthven and Lindsay, at Lochleven. Mary is seated, and one of the Lords offers her a pen to sign her abdication. The treatment of the subject is literal, its source is at once declared. In this work there is much merit, both of conception and execution' (Art Journal, 1850, p. 176). As the sub-title given to the work when exhibited in 1850 indicates, Severn depended on the fictional account of Mary's imprisonment at Lochleven given by Walter Scott in The Abbot, and in chapter 22 of which it was described how the queen had at first accepted that she must sign the document of her abdication, but had resisted when Lord Ruthven indicated that it was to be supposed that she had done so voluntarily. At this she protested, 'If I am expected to declare I give away my crown of free will, or otherwise because I am compelled to renounce it by the threat of worse evils to myself and my subjects, I will not put my name to such an untruth – not to gain full possession of England, France and Scotland! – all once my own, in possession, or by right'.

The career of the painter Joseph Severn makes a fascinating connection between the visual arts in the early decades of the nineteenth century and Romantic literature. Severn had accompanied Keats to Rome in 1820, and was with him when he died there in 1821. Severn's choice of a subject from Walter Scott is a reminder of the legendary esteem in which the novelist was held. Severn and Scott met in Rome in 1832. Roy Strong, in his book And when did you last see your father? – The Victorian Painter and History (1978), documents the spate of subjects dependent on Scott's two novels describing Mary – The Monastery; A Romance and The Abbot (both published in 1820), finding as many as fifty-six works exhibited at the Royal Academy on themes related to Mary, Queen of Scots from the time of the publication of Scott's novels and until 1897. At least six exhibited subjects deriving from the account of the abdication in The Abbot which is the inspiration of the present work. Helen Smailes, in the catalogue of the Scottish National Portrait Gallery exhibition The Queen's Image (1987), explained how Scott's portrayal of Mary came to be seen as much more than an invented fiction but instead a reality, and how the invoking of Scott's name in the title of a work was a means of claiming historical authenticity.

A reduced version of the present subject, with the figures treated at full length, is in the Victoria and Albert Museum (1402-1869), having been received as part of the Townshend Bequest in 1869.