Getty Museum

[John Sobieski Stuart]

Date

1843–1847

Medium

Salted paper print from a paper negative

Department

Photographs

Institution

Getty Museum

> The fascination for distinctive culturally-specific costumes, exemplified by *Afghans* (see [84.XM.131.9](https://www.getty.edu/art/collection/objects/34815/hill-adamson-mr-lane-and-mr-roddie-scottish-about-1842/)), did not always involve far-off lands. The nineteenth century saw a renewed interest in the Highland dress of Scotland. Two men who held themselves to be experts in the field of kilts and tartans were John Sobieski Stuart (1795?-1872) and his brother Charles (1799?-1880) (see [84.XO.734.4.3.27](https://www.getty.edu/art/collection/objects/99327/hill-adamson-charles-sobieski-stuart-about-1844/)). The siblings arrived in Edinburgh from the Continent around 1818, claiming to be descendants of Prince Charles Edward Stuart (1720-88). After the prince's defeat in the Jacobite rebellion of 1745, Highland dress was banned from 1746 to 1782. By the end of the eighteenth century, however, tartan was found in the military uniforms of many Highland regiments (see [84.XM.445.3](https://www.getty.edu/art/collection/objects/39603/hill-adamson-sergeant-of-the-92nd-gordon-highlanders-reading-the-orders-of-the-day-1846/) and [84.XM.445.18](https://www.getty.edu/art/collection/objects/39618/hill-adamson-sergeant-of-the-92nd-gordon-highlanders-reading-the-orders-of-the-day-1846/)). Its popularity increased with the romantic writings of Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832), who was partial to wearing Highland dress and encouraged King George IV (1761-1830) to do likewise upon his state visit to Edinburgh in 1822, effectively giving it the royal seal of approval. > > Adapted from Anne M. Lyden. *Hill and Adamson*, In Focus: Photographs from the J. Paul Getty Museum (Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum, 1999), 24. ©1999, J. Paul Getty Museum.

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