Two Men and a Girl Standing (Study for 'The Covenanters' Baptism') 1830

George Harvey made this study on paper for his painting, ‘The Covenanters’ Baptism'. The painting depicts a clandestine baptism during the period of the Scottish Covenanters, a 17th-century Presbyterian movement that resisted the imposition of episcopacy by the Stuart monarchy. Harvey, painting in 19th-century Scotland, draws on this past to evoke themes of religious freedom and national identity. Note the presence of weapons and a sense of ever-present danger. How does Harvey want us to view these historical figures? Are they brave heroes? Or dangerous zealots? To answer this we can consider the ways that Victorian-era Scottish society understood its own history. We can delve into popular literature, religious sermons, and the historical writing of the time to get a sense of how this image would have been viewed at the time. Art is always rooted in its own social and institutional context.