Ossian’s Swan Song

History, literature and art became important political tools in national identity-building in 18th- and 19th-century Europe. The urge to ‘fill the gaps’ gave rise to numerous forgeries. Each ‘discovery’ traced a nation’s history as far back as possible and proclaimed its cultural importance. Although a proven forgery, the Ossianic poems not only fed national sentiments all over Europe but also brought about a major shift in European literature from Italy to Germany. The French poet Alphonse de Lamartine wrote of the early 1800s as ‘the time when Ossian ruled the imagination of France’. Johan Frederik Clemens (1749-1831) made this engraving after the painting ‘Den gamle blinde skotske barde synger til harpen sin svanesang’ (The old, blind, Scottish bard sings his swan song on the harp), 1780-1782, by Nicolai Abraham Abildgaard (1743-1809). It is dedicated to ‘His Excellency Hugh Elliot Esquire, his Majesty’s Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary at the Court of Denmark’. Johan Frederik Clemens was the accredited engraver to the Danish court and Nicolai Abraham Abildgaard was a professor at the Danish Academy in Copenhagen at that time. The two artists worked together on several occasions before and after 1787, the year in which this engraving was executed. Abildgaard’s painting was a rejected commission, which the artist later donated to his friend and colleague Clemens. The dedication is to Hugh Elliot, the English envoy at the Danish court who played a major diplomatic role during the ongoing disputes between Denmark and Sweden. Another copy without a dedication is held at the British Museum, museum number: 1879, 1011.1316.

Inscription Dedicated to 'His Excellency Hugh Elliot Esquire, his Majesty’s Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary at the Court of Denmark’