The Jacobite Court in Exile in France and Italy with Dr Matthew Martin

In 1688, James II, the Catholic King of England, Scotland and Ireland, was ousted by a coup d’état, the so-called Glorious Revolution, and fled into exile in France. So began a political and military struggle which would last nearly eighty years as the Stuart dynasty sought to reclaim their lost Kingdoms.  The most famous event in this momentous struggle occurred in 1745 when James II’s grandson, Prince Charles Edward Stuart, ‘Bonnie Prince Charlie’, led an armed invasion of Scotland and England, a revolt which was put down at the bloody Battle of Culloden, but which almost met with success.

Stuart loyalists, known as Jacobites, created a dazzling range of artworks and material culture to express their loyalty to the exiled dynasty in coded fashion. Music too played an important role in the propaganda of the Stuarts. This lecture will explore the romantic and tragic history of this Scottish dynasty whose splendid courts in exile cast long political shadows over much of eighteenth-century Europe.

Dr Matthew Martin is a specialist in European luxury arts of the 1600s-1800s. For thirteen years, he was a curator in the Department of International Decorative Arts at the National Gallery of Victoria and is currently a faculty member in Art History and Curatorship at the University of Melbourne. He has been a regular contributor to programming at The Johnston Collection, and is the guest curator for the exhibition Taste & Temptation.

Your ticket includes tea or Market Lane coffee served before the presentation, and time to browse our exclusive range of books, gifts, and homewares at TJC Emporium.

This event is presented on-site at The Johnston Collection. Please see your ticket for details. NOTE: Tickets for this event do not include access to our house museum, Fairhall. Guided tours of the current exhibition can be booked separately.

This program is supported by The Copland Foundation.

Image: Louis Tocque, Prince Charles Edwart Stuart, 1742. Scottish National Portrait Gallery, Edinburgh.