The Dying Douglas at the Battle of Langside

Embroidered picture 'Mary Queen of Scots mourning over the dying Douglas at the Battle of Langside', England, c. 1870. Embroidered picture 'Mary Queen of Scots mourning over the dying Douglas at the Battle of Langside', England, c. 1870. Copyright Victoria and Albert Museum, London, acc. no. T.8-1927.

The Victoria and Albert Museum in London houses an embroidered picture illustrating 'Mary Queen of Scots mourning the dying Douglas at the Battle of Langside'. The embroidery is based on an oil painting by Charles Landseer (1799-1879). The battle was fought on 13th May 1568, and the defeat of Mary's loyal forces led her to flee from Scotland to England (and to her subsequent imprisonment by Elizabeth I).

The embroidery measures 110 x 154.3 cm. The embroideress of this work was Jane Brumlen (she died in 1909), and she completed this work in c. 1870. It is carried out with coloured woollen threads and is worked in cross stitch.

The Landseer painting was a very popular subject for embroideries. At the 1851 Great Exhibition in London, four embroideries based on the painting were exhibited.

V&A online catalogue (retrieved 2nd November 2016).

WV

Last modified on Wednesday, 24 May 2017 11:17
Published in Secular representations
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