The Abdication of Mary, Queen of Scots

Mary Queen of Scots's abdication in 1567 was one of the defining moments of Scottish history — the forced surrender of a crown under duress, followed by imprisonment, exile, and eventual execution. For Hamilton, a Scotsman working in Rome, the subject represented an intersection of his national identity and his Neoclassical interest in historical subjects of moral weight. The Hunterian Museum at Glasgow holds this work as part of its collection of Hamilton's contributions to Scottish cultural memory. By depicting the abdication rather than the execution — the moment of political surrender rather than violent martyrdom — Hamilton focused on the psychological dimensions of royal defeat: the queen's dignity under coercion, the shame of those compelling her.

The scene requires depicting a central female figure — Mary — surrounded by figures who are either hostile or helpless, the spatial arrangement communicating the power relations of the abdication. Hamilton gives the queen's bearing a dignity commensurate with her royal status even in the moment of her defeat, following the Neoclassical principle that noble subjects require noble treatment.