An exhibition at Edinburgh’s Dovecot Studios explores how one of the most celebrated images of Victorian Scotland – Edwin Landseer’s The Monarch of the Glen – has been constantly reinvented for over 170 years and continues to inspire contemporary artists. 

Painted in 1851, The Monarch of the Glen, depicting a majestic, twelve-point stag, has become instantly recognisable through its widespread use in advertising by brands such as Glenfiddich, Nestle and Baxters soup. It was originally intended as part of a series of three works to be displayed in the House of Lords, but the scheme was never realised. Now part of the Scottish national collection, it was recently moved to its new home in the Scottish galleries at the National in Edinburgh.

Commemorating the 150th anniversary of Landseer’s death, the display at Dovecot is presented in four sections: Landseer and the Monarch, tracing the artist’s life and the painting’s journey into public ownership, The Monarch’s Many Lives, on how the painting has inspired commercial and artistic reinventions and its use in film and television; After, After, After Monarch of the Glen (detail pictured below), the tapestry studio’s own representation of the iconic painting, on show for the first time since 2016; and a final section highlighting more recent attitudes to the rural landscape in Scotland, which is far removed from Landseer’s romantic vision.