Mary Queen of Scots 1542-1587, with Holyrood

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Description: signed and dated lower left "Horsburgh, Edin 1887", bears partial label en verso "Patronised By Her Majesty The Queen/J. Horsburgh, FRSSE & Son/Portrait and Miniature Painters/131 Princes Street/Edinburgh/London".

Provenance: Private collection, New Orleans, Louisiana; Private collection, Montgomery, Alabama.

On 6 February 1835, John Horsburgh was born at Eddleston, Peeblesshire. He had three older sisters, three younger sisters and one younger brother who was born in 1841 and died the following year. On February 1 1855, at the age of 20, he sailed with 240 other passengers, mostly Irish emigrants, from Liverpool to New York. The journey took twenty-two days. I don't know how long he spent in New York. On August 8 1856, John married Agnes Mackintosh, in a Baptist service. Agnes was daughter of Daniel, boot and shoe maker. At the time of the marriage, John's father was a cobbler and John was a Draper's Assistant living at 5 Drummond Street. In 1861, he opened his first photographic studio in Edinburgh, working first as a calotypist and later with the albumen and carbon processes. At the time of the 1861 census he was employing one man. He was then living at 12 Rankeillor Street and had recently opened his first studio at 39 South Bridge. He exhibited his work in PSS Exhibitions In 1861 and 1864 and joined Edinburgh Photographic Society in 1861, the year the society was established. He illustrated a book by Couper with 50 albumen prints.At the time of the 1871 census he was a described as "photographer and portrait painter, employing 3 artists, 3 photographers, 2 female assistants and 2 messengers." From his premises at 131 Princes Street he produced life size portraits in oil. His painting of Horsburgh Senior is now held by the Scottish National Portrait Gallery. After running the photographic business himself for almost 30 years, he entered into partnership with his son, John Alfred Horsburgh in October 1889. The two ran the business together until John retired in October 1898, leaving John Alfred in charge of the business. Family Records written in the Horsburgh family Bible. However he appears to have continued as an Artist for at least a further 20 years . John Horsburgh died in 1924. His obituary appeared in The Scotsman.

Mary I (popularly known as Mary, Queen of Scots) (8 December 1542 – 8 February 1587) was Queen of Scots (the monarch of the Kingdom of Scotland) from 14 December 1542 to 24 July 1567. She was also the queen consort of France from 10 July 1559 to 5 December 1560. After a long period of protective custody in England, she was tried and executed for treason following her involvement in three plots to assassinate Elizabeth I of England and place herself on the throne. During the 14th century reign of Robert II of Scotland, it had been confirmed that the Scottish Crown would only be inherited by males in the line of Robert's children—all sons—who were listed in that parliamentary Act. Females and female lines could inherit only after extinction of male lines.

Mary ascended to the throne because, with the demise of her father, James V, Robert II had no remaining direct male descendants of unquestionably legitimate origins. John Stewart, Duke of Albany, a direct descendant of Robert II, would probably have succeeded James V had he not died in 1536

Mary Stuart was the first member of the royal House of Stuart to use the Gallicised spelling Stuart, rather than the earlier Stewart. Mary had adopted the French spelling Stuart during her time in France, and she and her descendants continued to use it.

Princess Mary Stuart was born at Linlithgow Palace, Linlithgow, West Lothian, on 7 December or 8 December 1542 to King James V of Scotland and his French wife, Mary of Guise. A popular legend, written by John Knox, states that James, upon hearing of the birth of a daughter, ruefully exclaimed, "It came with a lass, it will pass with a lass!" However, Knox was still a Catholic clergyman at the time, and would not have been at the King's court when the birth was announced, and t fore cannot be considered reliable as a source for this claim.

The six- or seven-day-old Mary became Queen of Scotland when her father died at the age of 30, probably from cholera[3], although his contemporaries believed his death to have been caused by grief over the Scots' loss to the English at the Battle of Solway Moss. James Hamilton, 2nd Earl of Arran was the next in line for the throne after Mary; he acted as regent for Mary until 1554, when he was succeeded by the Queen's mother, who continued as regent until her death in 1560.

In July 1543, when Mary was six months old, the Treaties of Greenwich promised Mary to be married to Edward, son of King Henry VIII of England in 1552, and for their heirs to inherit the Kingdoms of Scotland and England. Mary's mother was strongly opposed to the proposition, and she hid with Mary two months later in Stirling Castle, w preparations were made for Mary's coronation. At the age of nine months Mary was crowned Queen of Scots in the Chapel Royal at Stirling Castle on 9 September 1543. The Treaties of Greenwich fell apart soon after Mary's coronation. The betrothal did not sit well with the Scots, especially since Henry VIII suspiciously tried to change the agreement so that he could possess Mary years before the marriage was to take place. He also wanted them to break their traditional alliance with France. Fearing an uprising among the people, the Scottish Parliament broke off the treaty and the engagement at the end of the year. Henry then began his "rough wooing"[4] designed to impose the marriage to his son on Mary. This consisted of a series of raids on Scottish territory and other military actions. It lasted until June 1551, costing over half a million pounds and many lives. In May 1544, the English Earl of Hertford (later created Duke of Somerset by Edward VI) arrived in the Firth of Forth hoping to capture the city of Edinburgh and kidnap Mary, but Mary of Guise hid her in the secret chambers of Stirling Castle.

On September 10, 1547, known as "Black Saturday", the Scots suffered a bitter defeat at the Battle of Pinkie Cleugh. Mary of Guise, fearful for her daughter, sent her temporarily to Inchmahome Priory, and turned to the French ambassador Monsieur D'Oysel.

The French, remaining true to the Auld Alliance, came to the aid of the Scots. The new French King, Henry II, was now proposing to unite France and Scotland by marrying the little Queen to his three-year old son, the Dauphin François. This seemed to Mary of Guise to be the only sensible solution to her troubles. In February 1548, hearing that the English were on their way back, Mary of Guise moved Mary to Dumbarton Castle. The English left a trail of devastation behind once more and seized the strategically located town of Haddington. By June, the much awaited French help had arrived. On 7 July with it the French Marriage Treaty was signed at a nunnery near Haddington. With her marriage agreement in place, five-year-old Mary was sent to France in 1548 to spend the next thirteen years at the French court. Henry II had offered to guard and raise her. On August 7, 1548, the French fleet sent by Henry II sailed back to France from Dumbarton carrying the five-year-old Queen of Scots on board. She was accompanied by her own little court consisting of two lords, two half-brothers, and the "four Marys", four little girls her own age, all named Mary, and the daughters of some of the noblest families in Scotland: Beaton, Seton, Fleming, and Livingston.

Status: For Sale	Reference#: 3102
Condition: Good	Year: 19th Century
Country: UK
Height: 50.40 in. (128.02 cm)
Width: 38.40 in. (97.54 cm)
Title: Mary Queen of Scots 1542-1587, with Holyrood Palace beyond by John Horsburgh
Materials: Oil on Canvas

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