Four Standing Men (Study for 'The Covenanters' Baptism') 1830

George Harvey made this oil sketch, Four Standing Men, in preparation for his painting, The Covenanters' Baptism. Painted in Scotland, we can understand it as the product of the religious and political turmoil that followed the Scottish Reformation. The Covenanters were Presbyterians who resisted the imposition of Episcopalianism. To understand the image's meaning, we need to recognize the historical associations of holding a sword at a baptism, a sign of armed resistance to state interference in religious matters. It comments on the social structures of its own time because it deals with the history of Scotland, its national identity and religious freedom. The historian's role here is to uncover those social, religious and political contexts through close attention to historical documents. In doing so, we begin to appreciate how the meaning of art is contingent on context.