Art UK has updated its cookies policy. By using this website you are agreeing to the use of cookies. To find out more read our updated Use of Cookies policy and our updated Privacy policy.

Heroism and Humanity

Image credit: Glasgow Life Museums

How you can use this image

 

This image is available to be shared and re-used under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives licence (CC BY-NC-ND).

You can reproduce this image for non-commercial purposes and you are not able to change or modify it in any way.

Wherever you reproduce the image you must attribute the original creators (acknowledge the original artist(s) and the person/organisation that took the photograph of the work) and any other rights holders.

Review our guidance pages which explain how you can reuse images, how to credit an image and how to find more images in the public domain or with a Creative Commons licence available.

Download

Notes

Add or edit a note on this artwork that only you can see. You can find notes again by going to the ‘Notes’ section of your account.

This painting illustrates an incident in the life of Robert the Bruce (1274–1329). The Scottish king and his brother Edward, while campaigning against the English in Ireland, were retreating before a powerful pro-English army in Ireland. Bruce halted the army and prepared to fight in order to save a laundress, weak after childbirth, rather than abandon her to his pursuers. Bruce is the embodiment of compassion and, as the title indicates, humanity and the incident has been referenced in literature from John Barbour's poem 'The Brus' (completed in 1376) to Sir Walter Scott's 'The Lord of the Isles' (1815) and novel, 'Tales of a Grandfather' (1828). Allan's dramatic image would have had immediate appeal for a public already familiar with Scott's colourful account of the event from that novel, '… just as King Robert was about to mount his horse, he heard a woman shrieking in despair … he was informed by his attendants that a poor woman, a laundress or washerwoman, mother of an infant who had just been born, was about to be left behind by the army … the mother was shrieking for fear of falling into the hands of the Irish ….

Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum

Title

Heroism and Humanity

Date

c.1840

Medium

oil on canvas

Measurements

H 127 x W 196.9 cm

Accession number

1233

Acquisition method

gift from William S. Steel, 1909

Work type

Painting

Inscription description

signed/dated

Normally on display at

Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum

Argyle Street, Glasgow G3 8AG Scotland

This venue is open to the public. Not all artworks are on display. If you want to see a particular artwork, please contact the venue.
View venue