{{Short description|Painting by Elizabeth Thompson}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Use British English|date=June 2023}} {{Infobox artwork | title = Scotland Forever! | image = Scotland Forever!.jpg | image_upright = 1.7 | caption = ''Scotland Forever!'' | artist = Elizabeth Butler | year = {{start date|1881}} | medium = Oil on canvas | movement = Military art | subject = Royal Scots Greys at the Battle of Waterloo | height_metric = 101.6 | width_metric = 194.3 | museum = Leeds Art Gallery | city = Leeds | website = {{URL|www.leedsartgallery.co.uk/gallery/listings/l0081.php}} }}
'''''Scotland Forever!''''' is an 1881 oil painting by Elizabeth Butler depicting the start of the charge of the Royal Scots Greys, a British heavy cavalry regiment that charged with other British heavy cavalry at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815. The painting has been reproduced many times and is considered an iconic representation of the battle itself, and of heroism more generally.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/jonathanjonesblog/2015/jun/18/scottish-heroism-at-waterloo-should-not-be-forgotten|title=Scottish heroism at Waterloo should not be forgotten|date=2015-06-18|newspaper=The Guardian|language=en-GB|issn=0261-3077|access-date=2016-12-04}}</ref>
==History and description== Butler was inspired to paint the charge as a response to the aesthetic paintings that she saw — and intensely disliked — on a visit to the Grosvenor Gallery. She had developed a reputation for her military pictures after the favourable reception of her earlier painting ''The Roll Call'' of 1874, on a subject from the Crimean War, and her 1879 painting ''Remnants of an Army'', on the 1842 retreat from Kabul.<ref name=":0" />
Although Butler had never observed a battle, she was permitted to watch her husband's regiment during training maneuvers, positioning herself in front of charging horses in order to observe their movement.<ref name=":0">{{Cite news|url=https://ageofrevolution.org/200-object/scotland-forever/|title=Scotland For Ever!, Lady Elizabeth Butler|website=Age of Revolution |publisher=Waterloo 200| access-date=2021-01-09}}</ref> In reality however, it appears that the Scots Greys did not start the charge at a gallop, due to the broken ground, and instead advanced at a quick walk. The horses which dominate the picture are heavy grey mounts, allegedly used by the regiment throughout its history until mechanisation, although at Waterloo (and earlier), it seems they had brown horses like the other heavy cavalry regiments, and the name "greys" is actually derived from the grey uniforms the regiment wore in the early 18th century.<ref>Diana M. Henderson, page 2 ''The Scottish Regiments'', {{ISBN|0 00 471025 8}}</ref> The bearskin caps were covered during the actual battle by black oilskin covers.
The title comes from the battle cry of the soldiers—the Greys called "Now, my boys, Scotland forever!" as they charged.<ref name="auto">{{cite web| url = http://www.leedsartgallery.co.uk/gallery/listings/l0081.php| url-status = dead| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20121126211212/http://www.leedsartgallery.co.uk/gallery/listings/l0081.php| archive-date = 2012-11-26| title = Painting Lady Elizabeth Butler (1846-1933) - Scotland for Ever (1881) - Oil on canvas - Leeds Art Gallery Online}}</ref>
The painting was exhibited at the Egyptian Hall in Piccadilly in 1881. In 1888 Colonel Thomas Walter Harding donated the painting to Leeds Art Gallery.<ref name="auto"/>
The lead rider is arguably either Lt Col James Hamilton who led the first charge but was killed in the second smaller charge, or Captain Edward Cheney who had his horse shot from under him five times in the battle, once on each charge, who was promoted to Brevet Colonel in the field due to the death of both Hamilton and Sir William Ponsonby, and led the third, fourth and fifth charge. The painting is not intended to be a portrait of either.
==Cultural references== The scene was used as an inspiration for the depiction of the same charge in the 1970 film ''Waterloo''.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Ryan|first1=David|title=Battle of Waterloo bicentenary: Scots Greys to charge again in re-enactment to mark anniversary of Napoleon's final defeat|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/world-history/battle-of-waterloo-bicentenary-scots-greys-to-charge-again-in-re-enactment-to-mark-anniversary-of-10016057.html|accessdate=9 February 2016|work=The Independent|date=1 February 2015}}</ref>
==See also== * ''Dawn of Waterloo'', a 1895 prequel painting by the artist
==References== {{reflist}}
{{Elizabeth Thompson}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Scotland Forever!}} Category:1881 paintings Category:Paintings by Elizabeth Thompson Category:Waterloo campaign in paintings Category:Military of Scotland Category:Paintings in Leeds Category:Paintings of horses Category:War paintings Category:Oil paintings on canvas