Flora MacDonald's farewell to Charles Edward, 1858. Oil on canvas, arched top; 36 x 26 inches (91.5 x 66 cm). Private collection. [Click on the image to enlarge it.]
The Young Pretender, Prince Charles Edward Stuart, and known to his Jacobite followers as Bonnie Prince Charlie, was the grandson of James II. Following his defeat at the Battle of Culloden on April 16, 1746 he was forced to flee for his life and spent five months as a fugitive. When he arrived at the Island of South Uist he encountered the twenty-four year old Flora Macdonald who agreed to help the Prince escape. She persuaded her stepfather, the commander of the local militia that was loyal to the Hanoverians, to allow her to travel from Uist to the mainland accompanied by two servants and a crew of six boatmen. The Prince went disguised as an Irish spinning maid, Betty Burke. They travelled not to the mainland but to the Isle of Skye. After hiding overnight in a cottage the Prince was able to get a boat to take him to the Isle of Raasay and from there he arranged passage back to France on a French frigate. When details of the escape became known Flora was arrested and initially imprisoned at Dunstaffnage Castle in Oban and then briefly in the Tower of London. She was later released in the general amnesty of 1747. After the defeat of Scottish forces at Culloden the Jacobite cause collapsed and there were no further challenges to Hanoverian rule. Scottish historical subjects were well received by the British public throughout the 19th century, mainly as a result of the novels of Sir Walter Scott. Calderon became adept in his career at imagining scenes from history that would appeal to popular taste.
Flora MacDonald's farewell to Charles Edward was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1858, no. 942, accompanied by these lines in the catalogue: "But, ah! There is one whose hard fate I deplore, etc." The English translation of the Jacobite song in Gaelic, "Flora McDonald's Lament," by James Hogg was the source of the lines. The painting was later exhibited that same year at the Royal Manchester Institution. The picture shows the Prince dressed in traditional Scottish attire kissing the forehead of Flora Macdonald as he takes his leave of her. They are shown in the cottage on Skye where they hid overnight after leaving South Uist. This is obviously not a historically accurate portrayal of the Prince as he is shown with a droopy mustache and chin whiskers, which would have made his escape disguised as a woman impossible. The Prince is shown clean-shaven in the many portraits of him that were available at the time for Calderon to study if he was interested in historical accuracy. Calderon also portrays him as much more handsome that he was in reality. The picture was obviously influenced by Millais' paintings of embracing couples, such as his A Huguenot on St. Bartholomew's Day of 1852 and The Order of Release of 1853, the latter portraying the release of a Jacobite soldier in 1746.
When the painting was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1858 it was greatly disliked by the critics. While the reviewer of The Illustrated London News liked Calderon's other submission to the Royal Academy that year, The Gaoler's Daughter, he harshly criticised this work: "We cannot speak so favourably of the artist's other work, Flora Macdonald's Farewell to Charles Edward (942), a namby-pamby affair, tawdrily coloured" (518). The critic of The Spectator felt exactly the same that Calderon's The Gaoler's Daughter was far the superior picture: "It depends upon Mr. Calderon himself whether he will progress from this work, or recede to such miserable stuff as his Flora Macdonald's Farewell to Charles Edward, and there stagnate" (556). The critic of The Saturday Review felt that after a promising beginning Calderon had lately largely done nothing but rubbish: "Flora Macdonald's Farewell to Charles Edward, further on, is a dismal instance of it" (503).
Bibliography
"Exhibition of the Royal Academy." The Illustrated London News XXXII (May 22, 1858): 517-19.
"Fine Arts. The Royal Academy Exhibition." The Spectator XXXI (May 22, 1858): 555-56.
"The Fine Art of 1858 – Oil-Pictures." The Saturday Review V (May 15, 1858): 500-06.
Created 12 July 2023