View source for Ossian

{{Short description|Purported author of a cycle of epic poems}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2020}} {{other uses}}
[[File:Ossian._Den_gamle_blinde_skotske_barde_synger_til_harpen_sin_svanesang.jpg|thumb|''Ossian Singing'', [[Nicolai Abildgaard]], 1787]]
'''Ossian''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|ɒ|ʃ|ən|,_|ˈ|ɒ|s|i|ən}}; [[Irish Gaelic]]/[[Scottish Gaelic]]: ''Oisean'') is the narrator and purported author of a cycle of [[Epic poem|epic poems]] published by the Scottish poet [[James Macpherson]], originally as ''Fingal'' (1761) and ''[[Temora (poem)|Temora]]'' (1763),<ref name="oxford-mythical">{{cite book|title=The Oxford Handbook of Modern Scottish History|editor=T. M. Devine, Jenny Wormald|chapter=Mythical Scotland|last1=Kidd|first1=Colin|author-link=Colin Kidd|last2=Coleman|first2=James|pages=67–70|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2012|isbn=978-0-19-956369-2|chapter-url={{GBurl |id=4f8xhlabjPsC |pg=PA67}}}}</ref> and later combined under the title ''The Poems of Ossian''. Macpherson claimed to have collected [[word-of-mouth]] material in [[Scottish Gaelic language|Scottish Gaelic]], said to be from ancient sources, and that the work was his translation of that material. Ossian is based on [[Oisín]], son of [[Fionn mac Cumhaill]] (anglicised to Finn McCool),<ref>{{cite web|last1=Rainbolt|first1=Dawn|title=Finn McCool & the Giant's Causeway|url=https://www.wildernessireland.com/blog/build-bridge-myths-legends-giants-causeway/|website=Wilderness Ireland|date=8 March 2017|access-date=7 February 2020}}</ref> a legendary [[bard]] in [[Irish mythology]]. Contemporary critics were divided in their view of the work's authenticity, but the current consensus is that Macpherson largely composed the poems himself, drawing in part on traditional Gaelic poetry he had collected.<ref name="britannica">{{cite encyclopedia|encyclopedia=Encyclopedia Britannica|url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Ossian|title=Ossian|access-date=Jan 19, 2021}}</ref>

The work was internationally popular, translated into all the literary languages of Europe, and was highly influential both in the development of the [[Romanticism|Romantic movement]] and the [[Gaelic revival]]. Macpherson's fame was crowned by his burial among the literary giants in [[Westminster Abbey]]. [[William Paton Ker|W. P. Ker]], in the ''Cambridge History of English Literature'', observes that "all Macpherson's craft as a [[Philology|philological]] impostor would have been nothing without his literary skill."<ref>In ''The Cambridge History of English Literature'', vol. 10 "The Age of Johnson": "The Literary Influence of the Middle Ages" p. 228.</ref>

== Poems ==
[[File:Krafft_Ossian_und_Malvina.jpg|thumb|''Ossian and Malvina'', by [[Johann Peter Krafft]], 1810.]]
In 1760, Macpherson published the English-language text ''Fragments of ancient poetry, collected in the Highlands of Scotland, and translated from the Gaelic or Erse language''.<ref name="litpedia">{{citation|title=[[The Literary Encyclopedia (English)|Literary Encyclopedia]]|year=2004|contribution-url=http://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=9045|contribution=Fragments of Ancient Poetry, Collected in the Highlands of Scotland|access-date=27 December 2006}}</ref> Later that year, he claimed to have obtained further manuscripts and in 1761 he claimed to have found an [[Epic poetry|epic]] on the subject of the hero Fingal (with Fingal or ''Fionnghall'' meaning 'fair stranger' denoting hair or eye colour <ref>{{citation|url=http://www.behindthename.com/php/view.php?name=fingal|title=Behind the Name: View Name: Fingal}}</ref>), written by Ossian. According to Macpherson's prefatory material, his publisher, claiming that there was no market for these works except in English, required that they be translated. Macpherson published these alleged translations during the next few years, culminating in a collected edition, ''The Works of Ossian'', in 1765. The most famous of these Ossianic poems was ''Fingal'', written in 1761 and dated 1762.

The supposed original poems are translated into poetic prose, with short and simple sentences. The mood is epic, but there is no single narrative, although the same characters reappear. The main characters are Ossian himself, relating the stories when old and blind, his father Fingal (very loosely based on the Irish hero [[Fionn mac Cumhaill]]), his dead son Oscar (also with an [[Oscar (Irish mythology)|Irish counterpart]]), and Oscar's lover [[Malvina]] (like [[Fiona]] a name invented by Macpherson), who looks after Ossian in his old age. Though the stories "are of endless battles and unhappy loves", the enemies and causes of strife are given little explanation and context.{{sfn|Okun|1967|p=328}}

Characters are given to killing loved ones by mistake, and dying of grief, or of joy. There is very little information given on the religion, culture or society of the characters, and buildings are hardly mentioned. The landscape "is more real than the people who inhabit it. Drowned in eternal mist, illuminated by a decrepit sun or by ephemeral meteors, it is a world of greyness."{{sfn|Okun|1967|p=328}} Fingal is king of a region of south-west Scotland perhaps similar to the historical kingdom of [[Dál Riata]] and the poems appear to be set around the 3rd century, with the "king of the world" mentioned being the [[Roman Emperor]]; Macpherson and his supporters detected references to [[Caracalla]] (d. 217, as "Caracul") and [[Carausius]] (d. 293, as "Caros", the "king of ships").<ref>[http://www.exclassics.com/ossian/aera.htm "A Dissertation concerning the Aera of Ossian"], published as prefatory matter in later editions of the poems.</ref>

== Reception and influence ==
The poems achieved international success. [[Napoleon]] and [[Denis Diderot|Diderot]] were prominent admirers, and [[Voltaire]] was known to have written parodies of them.<ref>Howard Gaskill, ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=uDYPtqw0MHwC&pg=PA140 The reception of Ossian in Europe]'' (2004)</ref> [[Thomas Jefferson]] thought Ossian "the greatest poet that has ever existed",<ref>Quoted in {{cite journal|first=Frederick|last=Carpenter|title=The Vogue of Ossian in America|journal=American Literature|volume=2|year=1930–1931|pages=405–17|doi=10.2307/2920160|jstor=2920160}}</ref> and planned to learn Gaelic so as to read his poems in the original.<ref>{{cite book|year=1989|editor1-last=Wilson|editor1-first=Douglas L.|title=Thomas Jefferson's Literary Commonplace Book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2wwABAAAQBAJ&pg=PA172|location=Princeton, NJ|publisher=Princeton University Press|page=172|isbn=0691047200|access-date=8 April 2015}}</ref> They were proclaimed as a Celtic equivalent of the [[Classical antiquity|Classical]] writers such as [[Homer]]. "The genuine remains of Ossian&nbsp;... are in many respects of the same stamp as the ''Iliad''", was [[Henry David Thoreau|Thoreau]]'s opinion.<ref>Thoreau, Henry David. ''Thoreau: Collected Essays and Poems''. The Library of America. p. 141. {{ISBN|1-883011-95-7}}</ref> Many writers were influenced by the works, including [[Walter Scott]], and painters and composers chose Ossianic subjects.

The Hungarian national poet [[Sándor Petőfi]] wrote a poem entitled ''Homer and Ossian'', comparing the two authors, of which the first verse reads: {{poemquote|Oh where are you Hellenes and Celts?
Already you have vanished, like
Two cities drowning
In the waters of the deep.
Only the tips of towers stand out from the water,
Two tips of towers: Homer, Ossian.}}

Despite its doubtful authenticity, the Ossian cycle popularized [[Celtic mythology]] across Europe, and became one of the earliest and most popular texts that inspired [[romantic nationalism]] over the following century. European historians agree that the Ossian poems and their vision of mythical Scotland spurred the emergence of enlightened patriotism on the continent and played a foundational role in the making of modern European nationalism.<ref name="oxford-mythical" />

The cycle had less impact in the [[British Isles]]. [[Samuel Johnson]] held it up as "another proof of Scotch conspiracy in national falsehood", while the Irish objected to what they saw as Macpherson's misappropriation of the [[Fenian Cycle]] of [[Irish mythology]]. [[David Hume]] eventually withdrew his initial support of Macpherson and quipped that he could not accept the claimed authenticity of the poems even if "fifty bare-arsed Highlanders" vouched for it. By the early 19th century, the cycle came to play a limited role in Scottish patriotic rhetoric.<ref name="oxford-mythical" />

== Authenticity debate ==
[[File:François_Pascal_Simon_Gérard_001.jpg|thumb|''Ossian Evoking ghosts on the Edge of the Lora'', by [[François Gérard|François Pascal Simon Gérard]], 1801]]
There were immediate disputes of Macpherson's claims on both literary and political grounds. Macpherson promoted a Scottish origin for the material, and was hotly opposed by Irish historians who felt that their heritage was being appropriated. However, both Scotland and Ireland shared a common [[Gaels|Gaelic]] culture during the period in which the poems are set, and some Fenian literature common in both countries was composed in Scotland.

Samuel Johnson, English author, critic, and biographer, was convinced that Macpherson was "a [[wikt:mountebank|mountebank]], a liar, and a fraud, and that the poems were forgeries".<ref>{{Harvnb|Magnusson|2006|p=340}}</ref> Johnson also dismissed the poems' quality. Upon being asked, "But Doctor Johnson, do you really believe that any man today could write such poetry?" he famously replied, "Yes. Many men. Many women. And many children." Johnson is cited as calling the story of Ossian "as gross an imposition as ever the world was troubled with".<ref name="fagles">Introduction of Robert Fagles' translations of [[The Iliad]] and [[The Odyssey]]</ref> In support of his claim, Johnson also called Gaelic the rude speech of a barbarous people, and said there were no manuscripts in it more than 100 years old. In reply, it was proved that the Advocates' Library at Edinburgh contained Gaelic manuscripts 500 years old, and one of even greater antiquity.<ref name="amcyc">{{AmCyc|wstitle=Ossian|inline=1}}</ref>

In response, as his words were spoken during the 18th-century golden age of [[Scottish Gaelic literature]], Dr Johnson swiftly found himself reviled in Gaelic [[satirical poetry]] by, among many others, James MacIntyre, the [[Clan MacIntyre]] [[Tacksman]] of Glen Noe near [[Ben Cruachan]], in ({{langx|gd|Òran don Ollamh MacIain}}, "A Song to Dr Johnson"). Raonuill Dubh MacDhòmhnuill, the eldest son of Gaelic [[national poet]] [[Alasdair Mac Mhaighstir Alasdair]] and [[Clanranald]] tacksman of [[Laig]], included MacIntyre's satire in the Gaelic poetry anthology called ''The [[Eigg]] Collection'', which was published at [[Edinburgh]] in 1776.<ref>Black, Ronald I.M. (ed.). ''An Lasair: an anthology of 18th-century Scottish Gaelic verse''. Edinburgh, 2001. pp. 292-299, 495-499.</ref>

Scottish author [[Hugh Blair]]'s 1763 ''A Critical Dissertation on the Poems of Ossian'' upheld the work's authenticity against Johnson's scathing criticism and from 1765 was included in every edition of ''Ossian'' to lend the work credibility. The work also had a timely resonance for those swept away by the emerging [[Romanticism|Romantic movement]] and the theory of the "[[noble savage]]", and it echoed the popularity of [[Edmund Burke|Burke's]] seminal ''[[A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful]]'' (1757).<ref>J. Buchan, ''Crowded with Genius'' (London: Harper Collins, 2003), {{ISBN|0-06-055888-1}}, p. 163.</ref>

In 1766, [[antiquarian]] and [[Celticist]] [[Charles O'Conor (historian)|Charles O'Conor]], a descendant of the [[Gaelic nobility of Ireland]], dismissed Ossian's authenticity in a new chapter ''Remarks on Mr. Mac Pherson's translation of Fingal and Temora'' that he added to the second edition of his seminal history.<ref>O'Conor, C. ''Dissertations on the ancient history of Ireland (1753) [http://www.exclassics.com/ossian/oconor.pdf (Copy at Ex-Classics)]''</ref> In 1775, he expanded his criticism in a new book, ''Dissertation on the origin and antiquities of the antient Scots''.
[[File:Ossian's_Cave_front,_The_Hermitage.JPG|left|thumb|Ossian's Cave at [[The Hermitage (Scotland)|The Hermitage]] in [[Dunkeld]], Scotland]]
Faced with the controversy, the Committee of the [[Highland Society of London|Highland Society]] enquired after the authenticity of Macpherson's supposed original. It was because of these circumstances that the so-called [[Glenmasan manuscript]] (Adv. 72.2.3) came to light in the late 18th century, a compilation which contains the tale ''Oided mac n-Uisnig''. This text is a version of the Irish ''Longes mac n-Uislenn'' and offers a tale which bears some comparison to Macpherson's "Darthula", although it is radically different in many respects. Donald Smith cited it in his report for the committee.<ref>{{citation|first=Donald|last=MacKinnon|title=The Glenmasan Manuscript|journal=The Celtic Review|volume=1|issue=6|year=1905|pages=3–17|doi=10.2307/30069764|jstor=30069764}}</ref>

The controversy raged on into the early years of the 19th century, with disputes as to whether the poems were based on Irish sources, on sources in English, on Gaelic fragments woven into his own composition as Johnson concluded,<ref>{{citation|url=http://www.floridabibliophilesociety.org/Fingal.html|title=Lord Auchinleck's Fingal|publisher=Florida Bibliophile Society|access-date=9 April 2010|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110726060119/http://www.floridabibliophilesociety.org/Fingal.html|archive-date=26 July 2011}}</ref> or largely on Scots Gaelic oral traditions and manuscripts as Macpherson claimed. In the late 19th century, it was demonstrated that the only "original" Gaelic manuscripts that Macpherson produced for the poems were in fact translations of his work from English.<ref name="britannica" /> During the same period, [[Peter Hately Waddell]] defended the authenticity of the poems, arguing in ''Ossian and the Clyde'' (1875) that the poems contained topographical references that could not have been known to Macpherson.<ref>"Waddell, Peter Hately". Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–19.</ref>

In 1952, the Scottish literary scholar [[Derick Thomson]] investigated the sources for Macpherson's work and concluded that Macpherson had collected genuine Scottish Gaelic [[ballads]], employing scribes to record those that were preserved orally and collating manuscripts, but, as a pioneer of [[mythopoeia]], had adapted often contradictory accounts of the same legends into a coherent plotline by altering the original characters and ideas, and had also introduced a great deal of his own.<ref>{{citation|first=Derick|last=Thomson|title=The Gaelic Sources of Macpherson's 'Ossian'|year=1952}}</ref>

According to historians [[Colin Kidd]] and James Coleman, ''Fingal'' (1761, dated 1762) was indebted to traditional Gaelic poetry composed in the 15th and 16th centuries, as well as to Macpherson's "own creativity and editorial laxity", while the second epic ''Temora'' (1763) was largely his own creation.<ref name="oxford-mythical" />

Nowadays, the work is considered a classic of [[found manuscript]] trope.<ref name=":1">{{Citation|last=Baker|first=Timothy C.|title=Authentic Inauthenticity: The Found Manuscript|date=2014|work=Contemporary Scottish Gothic: Mourning, Authenticity, and Tradition|pages=54–88|editor-last=Baker|editor-first=Timothy C.|url=https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1057/9781137457202_3|access-date=2025-03-13|place=London|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan UK|language=en|doi=10.1057/9781137457202_3|isbn=978-1-137-45720-2}}</ref>

== Translations and adaptations ==
One poem was translated into French in 1762; by 1777, the whole corpus was translated.{{sfn|Okun|1967|p=330}} In the German-speaking states, [[Michael Denis]] made the first full translation in 1768–1769, inspiring the proto-nationalist poets [[Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock|Klopstock]] and [[Johann Wolfgang von Goethe|Goethe]], whose own German translation of a portion of Macpherson's work figures prominently in a climactic scene of ''[[The Sorrows of Young Werther]]'' (1774).<ref>{{Harvnb|Berresford Ellis|1987|p=159}}</ref><ref>Arnold M. ''Thor, myth to marvel''; Continuum Publishing, 2011, pp92-97.</ref> Goethe's associate [[Johann Gottfried Herder]] wrote an essay titled ''Extract from a correspondence about Ossian and the Songs of Ancient Peoples'' (1773) in the early days of the ''[[Sturm und Drang]]'' movement.

Complete Danish translations were made in 1790, and Swedish ones in 1794–1800. In [[Scandinavia]] and Germany, the Celtic nature of the setting was ignored or not understood; instead, Ossian was regarded as a Nordic or Germanic figure who became a symbol for nationalist aspirations.{{sfn|Okun|1967|pp=330, 339}} In 1799, the French general [[Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte]] named his only son Oscar after the character from Ossian, at the suggestion of [[Napoleon]], the child's godfather and an admirer of Ossian.{{sfn|Okun|1967|p=330}} Bernadotte later was made King of [[Sweden]] and [[Norway]]. In 1844, his son became King [[Oscar I of Sweden and Norway]], who was, in turn, succeeded by his sons [[Charles XV of Sweden|Charles XV]] and [[Oscar II]] (d. 1907). "Oscar" being a royal name led to its becoming also a common male first name, especially in Scandinavia but also in other European countries.

[[Melchiore Cesarotti]] was an Italian clergyman whose translation into Italian is said by many to improve on the original, and was a tireless promoter of the poems, in [[Vienna]] and [[Warsaw]] as well as Italy. It was his translation that Napoleon especially admired,{{sfn|Okun|1967|p=330}} and among others it influenced [[Ugo Foscolo]], who was Cesarotti's pupil in the [[University of Padua]].
[[File:Musée_Ingres-Bourdelle_-_Le_songe_d'Ossian,_1813_-_Ingres_-_Joconde06070001439.jpg|right|thumb|''[[The Dream of Ossian]]'', [[Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres]], 1813]]
[[File:Ossiansongs.JPG|right|thumb|''The Songs of Ossian'', ink and watercolours, [[Ingres]], 1811–13]]
British composer [[Harriet Wainwright]] premiered her opera ''Comala'', based on text by Ossian, in London in 1792.

The first partial [[Polish language|Polish]] translation of Ossian was made by [[Ignacy Krasicki]] in 1793. The complete translation appeared in 1838 by [[Seweryn Goszczyński]].

By 1800, Ossian was translated into Spanish and Russian, with Dutch following in 1805, and Polish, Czech and Hungarian in 1827–1833.{{sfn|Okun|1967|p=330}} The poems were as much admired in [[Hungary]] as in France and Germany; Hungarian [[János Arany]] wrote "Homer and Ossian" in response, and several other Hungarian writers – [[Dávid Baróti Szabó|Baróti Szabó]], [[Mihály Csokonai Vitéz|Csokonai]], [[Sándor Kisfaludy]], [[Ferenc Kazinczy|Kazinczy]], [[Kölcsey]], [[Ferenc Toldy]], and Ágost Greguss, were also influenced by it.<ref>{{citation|first=Elek|last=Oszkár|title=Ossian-kultusz Magyarországon|journal=Egyetemes Philologiai Közlöny|issue=LVII|year=1933|pages=66–76}}</ref>

The opera ''[[Ossian, ou Les bardes]]'' by [[Jean-François Le Sueur]] (with the famous, multimedial scene of "Ossian's Dream") was a sell-out at the [[Paris Opera]] in 1804, and transformed the composer's career. The poems also exerted an influence on the burgeoning of [[Romantic music]], and [[Franz Schubert]] in particular composed [[Lieder]] setting many of Ossian's poems. In 1829 [[Felix Mendelssohn]] was inspired to visit the Hebrides and composed the ''[[Hebrides Overture]]'', also known as ''Fingal's Cave''. His friend [[Niels Gade]] devoted his first published work, the concert overture ''Efterklange af Ossian'' ("Echoes of Ossian") written in 1840, to the same subject.

== Gaelic studies ==
{{original research section|date=June 2017}}

Macpherson's ''Ossian'' made a strong impression on [[Dugald Buchanan]] (1716–1768), a [[Perthshire]] poet whose celebrated ''Spiritual Hymns'' are written in a Scots Gaelic of a high quality that to some extent reflects the [[Classical Gaelic]] [[literary language]] once common to the bards of both Ireland and Scotland. Buchanan, taking the poems of ''Ossian'' to be authentic, was moved to revalue the genuine traditions and rich cultural heritage of the Gaels. At around the same time, he wrote to [[Sir James Clerk, 3rd Baronet|Sir James Clerk of Penicuik]], the leading antiquary of the movement, proposing that someone should travel to the isles and western coast of Scotland and collect the work of the ancient and modern bards, in which alone he could find the language in its purity.

Much later, in the 19th and 20th centuries, this task was taken up by collectors such as [[Alexander Carmichael]]<ref>''Carmina Gadelica'', Alexander Carmichael, printed by T. & A. Constable, Edinburgh, 1900.</ref> and [[Lady Evelyn Stewart Murray]],<ref>''Tales from Highland Perthshire'', collected by Lady Evelyn Stewart Murray, translated and edited by Sylvia Robertson and Tony Dilworth, Scottish Gaelic Texts Society, Volume 20, 2009.</ref> and to be recorded and continued by the work of the [[School of Scottish Studies]] and the Scottish Gaelic Texts Society.

== In art ==
Subjects from the Ossian poems were popular in the art of northern Europe, but at rather different periods depending on the country; by the time French artists began to depict Ossian, British artists had largely dropped him. Ossian was especially popular in [[Danish art]], but also found in Germany and the rest of Scandinavia.

=== Britain, Germany and Scandinavia ===
British artists began to depict the Ossian poems early on, with the first major work a cycle of paintings decorating the ceiling the "Grand Hall" of [[Penicuik House]] in [[Midlothian]], built by [[Clerk Baronets|Sir James Clerk]], who commissioned the paintings in 1772.  These were by the Scottish painter [[Alexander Runciman]] but were lost when the house burnt down in 1899, though drawings and [[Etching|etchings]] survive, and two pamphlets describing them were published in the 18th century.{{sfn|Okun|1967|pp=331–334}} A subject from Ossian by [[Angelica Kauffman]] was shown in the [[Royal Academy]] exhibition of 1773, and Ossian was depicted in ''Elysium'', part of the Irish painter [[James Barry (painter)|James Barry]]'s ''magnum opus'' decorating the [[Royal Society of Arts]], at the [[Adelphi Buildings]] in London (still ''in situ'').{{sfn|Okun|1967|pp=334–335}}
[[File:Nicolai_Abildgaard_-_Fingal_Sees_the_Ghosts_of_his_Forefathers_by_Moonlight_-_KMS3986_-_Statens_Museum_for_Kunst.jpg|thumb|''Fingal Sees the Ghosts of His Ancestors in the Moonlight'', [[Nicolai Abildgaard]], 1778]]
Works on paper by [[Thomas Girtin]] and [[John Sell Cotman]] have survived, though the Ossianic landscapes by George Augustus Wallis, which the Ossian fan [[August Wilhelm Schlegel]] praised in a letter to Goethe, seem to have been lost, as has a picture by [[J. M. W. Turner]] exhibited in 1802. [[Henry Singleton (painter)|Henry Singleton]] exhibited paintings, some of which were engraved and used in editions of the poems.{{sfn|Okun|1967|pp=336–338}}

A fragment by [[Novalis]], written in 1789, refers to Ossian as an inspired, holy and poetical singer.{{sfn|Schmidt|2003|p=976}}

The Danish painter [[Nicolai Abildgaard]], director of the [[Copenhagen Academy]] from 1789, painted several scenes from Ossian, as did his pupils, including [[Asmus Jacob Carstens]].{{sfn|Okun|1967|pp=339–341}} His friend [[Joseph Anton Koch]] painted a number of subjects, and two large series of illustrations for the poems, which never got properly into print; like many Ossianic works by Wallis, Carstens, Krafft and others, some of these were painted in Rome, perhaps not the best place to evoke the dim northern light of the poems. In Germany the request in 1804 to produce some drawings as illustrations so excited [[Philipp Otto Runge]] that he planned a series of 100, far more than asked for, in a style heavily influenced by the linear illustrations of [[John Flaxman]]; these remain as drawings only.{{sfn|Okun|1967|pp=338–345}} Many other German works are recorded, some as late as the 1840s;{{sfn|Okun|1967|pp=335–346}} word of the British scepticism over the Ossian poems was slow to penetrate the continent, or considered irrelevant.

=== France ===
[[File:Anne-Louis_Girodet-Trioson_001.jpg|left|thumb|''Ossian Receiving the Ghosts of Fallen French Heroes'', [[Anne-Louis Girodet]], 1805]]
In France, the enthusiasm of Napoleon for the poems accounts for most artistic depictions, and those by the most famous artists, but a painting exhibited in the [[Paris Salon of 1800]] by [[Paul Duqueylar]] (now [[Musée Granet]], [[Aix-en-Provence]]) excited ''Les Barbus'' ("the Bearded Ones"), a group of primitivist artists including [[Pierre-Maurice Quays]] (or Quaï) who promoted living in the style of "early civilizations as described in Homer, Ossian, and the Bible".{{sfn|Okun|1967|pp=346–347}} Quays is reported as saying: "Homère? Ossian? ... le soleil? la lune? Voilà la question. En vérité, je crois que je préfère la lune. C'est plus simple, plus grand, plus ''primitif''". ("Homer? Ossian? ... the sun? the moon? That's the question. Truthfully I think I prefer the moon. It's more simple, more grand, more ''primitive''").{{sfn|Rubin|1976|p=383}} The same year, Napoleon was planning the renovation of the [[Château de Malmaison]] as a summer palace, and, though he does not seem to have suggested Ossianic subjects for his painters, two large and significant works were among those painted for the reception hall, for which six artists had been commissioned.
[[File:Ary_Scheffer_-_Death_of_Malvina.jpg|thumb|''Malvina'' or ''The Death of Malvina'', by [[Ary Scheffer]] (see literature), c. 1802, musée Auguste Grasset, [[Varzy]]]]
[[File:Anne-Louis_Girodet.jpg|left|thumb|Study by [[Anne-Louis Girodet de Roussy-Trioson|Girodet]] for his ''Ossian'' painting, 1801, [[Louvre]]]]
These were [[Anne-Louis Girodet de Roussy-Trioson|Girodet]]'s painting of 1801–02 ''Ossian receiving the Ghosts of the French Heroes'', and ''Ossian Evoking ghosts on the Edge of the Lora'' (1801), by [[François Gérard|François Pascal Simon Gérard]]. Gérard's original was lost in a shipwreck after being bought by the King of Sweden after the fall of Napoleon, but survives in three replicas by the artist (a further one in Berlin was lost in 1945).  One is now at Malmaison (184.5 × 194.5&nbsp;cm / 72.6 × 76.6 in), and the [[Kunsthalle Hamburg]] has another (180.5 × 198.5&nbsp;cm). A [[watercolour]] copy by [[Jean-Baptiste Isabey]] was placed as [[Book frontispiece|frontispiece]] to Napoleon's copy of the poems.{{sfn|Okun|1967|pp=347–348}}<ref name="Rubin 1976">{{harvnb|Rubin|1976|pp=384–386}} and throughout on the variety of titles by which the work has been known</ref><ref name="musees-nationaux-napoleoniens.org 2004">{{cite web|title=Ossian évoque les fantômes au son de la harpe sur les bords du fleuve Lora|trans-title=Ossian evokes ghosts to the sound of the harp on the banks of the Lora river|language=fr|website=musees-nationaux-napoleoniens.org|date=2004-03-07|url=http://www.musees-nationaux-napoleoniens.org/pages/page_id19162_u1l2.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070705234627/http://www.musees-nationaux-napoleoniens.org/pages/page_id19162_u1l2.htm|archive-date=2007-07-05|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Duqueylar, Girodet and Gérard, like [[Johann Peter Krafft]] (above) and most of the ''Barbus'', were all pupils of [[Jacques-Louis David|David]], and the clearly unclassical subjects of the Ossian poems were useful for emergent French Romantic painting, marking a revolt against David's [[Neoclassicism|Neoclassical]] choice of historical subject-matter. David's recorded reactions to the paintings were guarded or hostile; he said of Girodet's work: "Either Girodet is mad or I no longer know anything of the art of painting".{{sfn|Honour|1968|pp=184–190, 187 quoted}}

Girodet's painting (still at Malmaison; 192.5 × 184&nbsp;cm) was a ''[[succès de scandale]]'' when exhibited in 1802, and remains a key work in the emergence of French Romantic painting, but the specific allusions to the political situation that he intended it to carry were largely lost on the public, and overtaken by the [[Peace of Amiens]] with Great Britain, signed in 1802 between the completion and exhibition of the work.{{sfn|Okun|1967|pp=349–351}}<ref name="musees-nationaux-napoleoniens.org 2004b">{{cite web|title=L'Apothéose des Héros français morts pour la patrie pendant la guerre de la Liberté|trans-title=The Apotheosis of French Heroes who died for their country during the War of Freedom|language=fr|website=musees-nationaux-napoleoniens.org|date=2004-03-07|url=http://www.musees-nationaux-napoleoniens.org/pages/page_id19164_u1l2.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080905195833/http://www.musees-nationaux-napoleoniens.org/pages/page_id19164_u1l2.htm|archive-date=2008-09-05|url-status=dead|access-date=2023-02-04}}</ref> He also produced ''Malvina dying in the arms of Fingal'' (c. 1802), and other works.

Another pupil of David, [[Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres]], was to depict Ossianic scenes over most of his long career. He made a drawing in 1809, when studying in Rome, and in 1810 or 1811 was commissioned to make two paintings, ''[[The Dream of Ossian]]'' and a classical scene, to decorate the bedroom Napoleon was to occupy in the [[Palazzo Quirinale]] on a visit to Rome. In fact the visit never came off and in 1835 Ingres repurchased the work, now in poor condition.
[[File:Wilbur_Woodward,_Ossian._Salon_de_1880._Jamie_Mulherron.jpg|thumb|280x280px|Wilbur Woodward, Ossian. Salon de 1880. Photo: Jamie Mulherron]]
The American painter based in Paris [[Wilbur Winfield Woodward]] exhibited an Ossian at the 1880 Salon.<ref>Salon 1880, no. 3921, p. 386</ref>

== Editions ==
[[National Library of Scotland]] has 327 books and associated materials in its Ossian Collection.  The collection was originally assembled by J. Norman Methven of Perth and includes different editions and translations of James Macpherson's epic poem 'Ossian', some with a map of the 'Kingdom of Connor'. It also contains secondary material relating to Ossianic poetry and the Ossian controversy.  More than 200 items from the collection have been digitised.<ref>{{cite web|title=Ossian Collection: Selected books from the Ossian Collection of 327 volumes, originally assembled by J. Norman Methven of Perth. Different editions and translations of James MacPherson's epic poem 'Ossian', some with a map of the 'Kingdom of Connor'. Also secondary material relating to Ossianic poetry and the Ossian controversy.|url=http://digital.nls.uk/76750236|publisher=National Library of Scotland|access-date=23 March 2014|location=Edinburgh}}</ref>

Below are some other online editions of interest and recent works:

* 1760: [https://books.google.com/books?id=RIYAAAAAcAAJ ''Fragments of Ancient Poetry collected in the Highlands of Scotland''], Edinburgh second edition.
* 1803: ''The Poems of Ossian in two volumes'', an illustrated edition - [https://books.google.com/books?id=KX4lAAAAMAAJ Vol.I], [https://books.google.com/books?id=WX0lAAAAMAAJ Vol.II] (London: Lackington, Allen and co.)
* 1887: [https://digital.nls.uk/early-gaelic-book-collections/archive/76001853 ''Poems of Ossian: Literally translated from the Gaelic, in the original measure of verse''] by Peter McNaughton (Edinburgh: William Blackwood and Sons).
* 1888:  [https://digital.nls.uk/dcn6/7784/77843457.6.pdf ''Poems of Ossian translated by James Macpherson''], a pocket reprint of the 1773 edition omitting the four last poems (London: Walter Scott)
* 1996: ''The Poems of Ossian and Related Works'', ed. Howard Gaskill, with an Introduction by Fiona Stafford (Edinburgh University Press).
* 2004: ''Ossian and Ossianism'', Dafydd Moore, a 4-volume edition of Ossianic works and a collection of varied responses (London: Routledge). This includes facsimiles of the Ossian works, contemporary and later responses, contextual letters and reviews, and later adaptations.
* 2011: ''Blind Ossian's Fingal : fragments and controversy'', a reprint of the first edition and abridgement of the follow-up with new material by Allan and Linda Burnett (Edinburgh: Luath Press Ltd).
* 2021: ''Ossian: Warrior Poet'', an edited and illustrated edition of the Poems with a new introduction and index by Scottish artist Eileen Budd (Windermere: Wide Open Sea Press).

== See also ==

* [[Ossian's Hall of Mirrors]]
* [[Folk process]]
* [[Romanticism]]
* [[Ossianic Society]] (Ireland)
* [[Vestiarium Scoticum]]
* [[Manuscripts of Dvůr Králové and of Zelená Hora]]
* [[Lord Dunsany]]

== Notes ==
{{Reflist}}

== References ==
{{refbegin}}

* {{citation|last=Berresford Ellis|first=Peter|title=A Dictionary of Irish Mythology|publisher=Constable|year=1987|isbn=0-09-467540-6}}
* Gaskill, Howard. (ed.) ''The reception of Ossian in Europe'' London: Continuum, 2004 {{ISBN|0-8264-6135-2}}
* <!--{{sfn |Honour |1968 |p=}}-->
* {{cite book|last=Honour|first=Hugh|author-link=Hugh Honour|title=Neo-classicism|publisher=Penguin|publication-place=Harmondsworth|year=1968|isbn=0-14-020978-6|oclc=647678269|url=https://archive.org/details/neoclassicism000hono|url-access=registration|via=Internet Archive}}
* Kristmannsson, Gauti, [http://ieg-ego.eu/de/threads/modelle-und-stereotypen/anglophilie/ossian-the-european-national-epic-1760-1810-ossian-be-freigabe ''Ossian, the European National Epic (1760-1810)''], [http://www.ieg-ego.eu/ EGO - European History Online], Mainz: [http://www.ieg-mainz.de/likecms/index.php Institute of European History], 2015, retrieved: March 8, 2021 ([https://d-nb.info/1125542462/34 pdf]).
* {{citation|last=Magnusson|first=Magnus|title=Fakers, Forgers & Phoneys|publisher=Mainstream Publishing|year=2006|location=Edinburgh|isbn=1-84596-190-0}}
* Moore, Dafydd. ''Enlightenment and Romance in James Macpherson's the Poems of Ossian: Myth, Genre and Cultural Change'' (Studies in Early Modern English Literature) (2003)
* {{cite journal|last=Okun|first=Henry|title=Ossian in Painting|journal=Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes|publisher=University of Chicago Press|volume=30|issue=1|date=1967-01-01|issn=0075-4390|doi=10.2307/750749|pages=327–356|jstor=750749|s2cid=195003210}}
* {{cite journal|last=Rubin|first=James Henry|author-link=James Henry Rubin|title=Gérard's Painting of "Ossian" as an Allegory of Inspired Art|journal=Studies in Romanticism|publisher=JSTOR|volume=15|issue=3|year=1976|pages=383–394|issn=0039-3762|doi=10.2307/25600033|jstor=25600033}}
* Hanselaar, Saskia, "La Mort de Malvina du musée Auguste Grasset à Varzy : une œuvre de jeunesse réattribuée à Ary Scheffer", La Revue des musées de France – Revue du Louvre, LXIe année, octobre 2011, n°4, p.&nbsp;87–96.
* {{cite book|last=Schmidt|first=Wolf Gerhard|editor-first1=Howard|editor-first2=Howard|editor-last1=Gaskill|editor-last2=Gaskill|title="Homer des Nordens" und "Mutter der Romantik", Bd. 1: James Macphersons Ossian, zeitgenössische Diskurse und die Frühphase der deutschen Rezeption, Bd. 2: Die Haupt- und Spätphase der deutschen Rezeption. Bibliographie internationaler Quellentexte und Forschungsliteratur|trans-title="Homer of the North" and "Mother of Romanticism", Vol. 1: James Macpherson's Ossian, contemporary discourses and the early phase of German reception, Vol. 2: The main and late phase of German reception. Bibliography of international source texts and research literature|language=de|publisher=De Gruyter|date=2003-12-31|isbn=978-3-11-017924-8|doi=10.1515/9783110926569|oclc=979594707}}
* Thomson, Derick Smith. "The Gaelic Sources of Macpherson's 'Ossian'", (1951), Aberdeen University Press

{{refend}}

== Further reading ==

* {{citation|first=George F.|last=Black|title=Macpherson's Ossian and the Ossianic Controversy|year=1926|location=New York|ref=none}}
* {{citation|first=Patrick|last=MacGregor|title=The Genuine Remains of Ossian, Literally Translated|publisher=[[Highland Society of London]]|year=1841|ref=none}}
* {{cite book|last=Porter|first=James|title=Beyond Fingal's cave : Ossian in the musical imagination|publication-place=Rochester|date=2019|isbn=978-1-78744-462-1|oclc=1104139334|ref=none}}

; in French

* Collectif, ''La Légende d'Ossian illustrée par Girodet'', catalogue de l'exposition du même nom organisée par les musées de Montargis, Montargis, Musée Girodet, 1988.
* Gluck, Denise, ''Ossian et l'ossianisme'', dans ''Hier pour demain, Arts, Tradition et Patrimoine'', catalogue de l'exposition du Grand Palais, Paris, Réunion des musées nationaux, 1980.
* Hanselaar, Saskia, ''Ossian ou l'Esthétique des Ombres : une génération d'artistes français à la veille du Romantisme (1793–1833),'' PhD, dir. S. Le Men, Université de Paris Ouest Nanterre la Défense, 2008.
* Soubigou, Gilles, ''Ossian et les Barbus: primitivisme et retirement du monde sous le Directoire'', in ''Renoncer à l'art. Figures du romantisme et des années 1970'' (Julie Ramos, ed.), Paris, Roven, 2014, pp.&nbsp;85–105.
* Van Thieghem, Paul, ''Ossian en France'', Paris, Rieder, 1917.

== External links ==
{{commons}} {{Wikisource|Poems of Ossian}} {{EB1911 poster|Ossian}} {{wikiquote}}

* Digitised version of [http://digital.nls.uk/7744727 Fragments of ancient poetry, collected in the Highlands of Scotland, and translated from the Galic or Erse language], published 1760 at [[National Library of Scotland]]
* [http://www.exclassics.com/ossian/ossintro.htm The Poetical Works of Ossian] Full text at Ex-Classics
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20020627111359/http://andromeda.rutgers.edu/~jlynch/C18/biblio/macpherson.html Selected Bibliography: James Macpherson and Ossian] Excellent online bibliography; compiled by designated experts in the field; covering the most important scholarly monographs and articles on Ossian and Macpherson up to March 2004.
* [http://www.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=1287 Literary Encyclopedia: Ossian]
* [http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/celt/pt4/index.htm Popular Tales of the West Highlands by J. F. Campbell Volume IV (1890)]
* [http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/text/contents_page.jsp?t_id=Boswell A Vision of Britain Through Time] James Boswell, ''The Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides with Samuel Johnson'', discussion in entries for 22 and 23 September 1773.
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20110708112300/http://www.calumcolvin.com/thumbs8.htm Calum Colvin: "Ossian: Fragments of Ancient Poetry"] Reproduction of the cycle of paintings "Ossian: Fragments of Ancient Poetry" (2002) by one of Scotland's most renowned contemporary artists
* [http://www.histoire-image.org/site/etude_comp/etude_comp_detail.php?i=35&oe_zoom=89&id_sel=89 "Le mythe d'Ossian" (in French)] in art in French public collections

{{Romanticism}}

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