A Turning Point in Scottish Sculpture Traditions: Robert Forrest's 200-year-old Statues of Tam and Johnny

This article contextualises the significance of Robert Forrest (1789–1852) in the revival of sculpture in Scotland. After losing its two dominant patrons – the Catholic church and the monarchy – Scottish sculpture's woes were exacerbated by the post-Cromwell preferences of aristocratic art aficionados and wealthy merchants for European architectural and figure sculptors, and a persisting failure to invest in local talent during the 1700s, rendering native sculpture moribund by 1800. Revival began with the planned development of a school of art in Edinburgh, the formation of the RSA and the emergence of Forrest and a handful of brilliant rural practitioners who found inspiration in Burns, Scott and Ramsay.