Ossian and Visual Art: Mislaid and Rediscovered

This is an invited contribution to the special Ossian in the Twenty-first Century issue of the Journal for Eighteenth-Century Studies, edited by Sebastian Mitchell (Univ. of Birmingham).

Note is taken, for example, of Macdonald’s role in 2013 in identifying J M W Turner’s early Ossian work. Thanks to Macdonald’s work with the Cesarotti Project at the University of Padua, that identification is complemented by discussion of the substantial set of Ossian works by Luigi Zandomeneghi (pupil of Canova, sculptor of Tomb of Titian in Venice), a bound portfolio of 48 engravings, I Canti di Ossian, printed in Venice in 1817. It is noted that by drawing attention to the importance of Cesarotti’s Ossian translation of 1763 and its consequences, the University of Padua project has opened up new possibilities for research with respect to visual art and Ossian. One further line which is discussed is the reuse by Italian artists of a work attributed to the eighteenth-century Scottish artist, Alexander Runciman.