Finger of a Frenchman

Celebrating five centuries of the artistic bond between Scotland and France, these poems are portraits of artists and reflections on art. In this work, Jean-Jacques Rousseau irritates his portrait painter Allan Ramsay; John Acheson, Master of the Scottish Mint, takes Mary, Queen of Scots’ portrait for the Scottish coinage; and Esther Inglis paints the first self-portrait by a Scottish artist. A reflection on the nature of a “collection,” this analytic consideration not only features paintings hanging in Scotland’s major galleries but also explores the rapport between art and poetry.