Romantic Scotland Gallery4-Fingal, An Ancient Epic Poem

Fingal, An Ancient Epic Poem

Fingal, An Ancient Epic Poem, In Six Books: together with Several 
other Poems, composed by Ossian the Son of Fingal
Translated from the Gallic Language by James Macpherson
1762
London: T. Becket and P.A. De Hondt 

Macpherson’s poems purported to be “translated” from the epic poems of Ossian, a blind, harp-playing bard who was understood as a Scottish equivalent to Homer. The frontispiece of this edition includes a small wood engraving by Isaac Taylor after Samuel Wale, which places the poet in a rocky landscape. Many of the poems discuss the deeds of mythic warriors and the spirits of their ancestors, often likewise set against landscapes of the sublime. Fingal was the righteous warrior king of Morven, whose valor was exercised in defense of the oppressed. The Ossian poems were popular across Europe, in particular in Napoleonic France, where artists such as François Gérard and Anne-Louis Girodet created history paintings on the theme, filled with ghostly visions. The music historian Thomas S. Grey has suggested that the mysterious fanfares in the central, development section of Fingal’s Cave might allude to the heroes of Ossianic legend or their spirits, which many Romantic tourists associated with Fingal’s Cave. 

YALE CENTER FOR BRITISH ART, RARE BOOKS COLLECTION 

PR 3544 A6 1762