Queen’s Gallery reopens as King’s with Georgian fashion exhibition
The Edinburgh art gallery formerly known as The Queen’s Gallery is to reopen as The King’s Gallery with the arrival of a new exhibition.
Style & Society: Dressing the Georgians will be on display at The King’s Gallery at the Palace of Holyroodhouse from March 22 to September 22.
Along with The King’s Gallery in London, based at Buckingham Palace, the Edinburgh venue will benefit from the launch of a new £1 ticket scheme designed to increase access to the Royal Collection and made available to visitors receiving Universal Credit and other named benefits.
The Georgian period was a time of great change, with the nation impacted by a series of social, political and technological upheavals. Style & Society: Dressing the Georgians uses fashion as a window into Georgian society during this revolutionary period.
The exhibition will bring together almost 100 works from the Royal Collection, including paintings, prints and drawings by artists such as Thomas Gainsborough, William Hogarth and their contemporaries.
At the heart of the display will be a selection of surviving period clothing and accessories, alongside paintings showing comparable items. Together, these works will build up a layer-by-layer picture of what the Georgians wore – from the functional dress of laundry maids to the glittering gowns suitable for court – between the accession of George I in 1714 and the death of George IV in 1830.
Following the exhibition’s successful showing in London, new additions have been made with distinctly Scottish links. These include two depictions of George IV by Fifeborn artist Sir David Wilkie, painted to mark the first visit by a reigning monarch to Scotland since Charles I.
In the largest of these, the King stands proud in full Highland dress of Royal Stewart tartan, making a statement of unity, with the monarch portrayed as heir to both the Hanoverians and the Jacobites following over a century of conflict. Also on display is a portrait by Louis Gabriel Blanchet of Bonnie Prince Charlie, showing the Jacobite leader as a defiant prince.
The 18th century was also a period of discovery, with new inventions influencing fashion accessories. Imagery on fans – which could be revealed and concealed – gave women an opportunity to participate in topical conversations from which they might otherwise be excluded.
Other accessories on display will include a miniature of Queen Charlotte, rings from her famed jewellery collection and jewel-encrusted snuffboxes.
From the introduction of military uniforms to the evolution of children’s wear and developments in haircare, and with notable loans from Historic Royal Palaces, the Fashion Museum Bath, the Bowes Museum, and the School of Historical Dress, the exhibition explores what fashion can tell us about life in Georgian Britain.
Curator Anna Reynolds said: “Clothing and historical fashion can tell us an enormous amount about life in the Georgian period. “It was a time of rapid change, including particularly momentous events in Scotland with attempts to restore the Stuart line to the throne and George IV’s visit north of the border – the first by a reigning monarch in almost 200 years.
“We are delighted to be launching accessible tickets with the opening of this exhibition, allowing more people than ever to learn about this exciting period in our history.”
Details of the £1 ticket scheme can be found at www.rct.uk/one-poundtickets