Sir William Stirling-Maxwell, 9th Baronet
William Stirling - Maxwell, ninth Baron Pollok ( born March 8, 1818 in Kirkintilloch, † January 15, 1878 in Venice) was a Scottish nobleman, historians, art historians and politicians. His focus was on the study of Spanish art, where he was one of the first art historian, who devoted himself to this subject in detail. Stirling - Maxwell was the first art historian, who used photographic reproductions in a book publication.
Life
William Stirling - Maxwell was the son of Archibald Stirling (1769-1847), the Esquire of Keir and Cadder, and Elizabeth Maxwell (1793-1822), the daughter of a baron and Members of Parliament and thus came from ancient Scottish families. His academic career began in Pilton Rectory, Northamptonshire and the Rectory, Cossington Leicestershire. Then visited William Stirling - Maxwell of Trinity College, Cambridge. There he made his degree in 1839. He then traveled through Germany, Switzerland, France and Italy.
1841, William Stirling - Maxwell was running for the parliamentary seat of Perthshire, but did not succeed in this. Instead, he went again on the road, where he went this time to Spain and the Middle East. His experiences in the Orient, he published in 1846 in a trip report. 1843 Stirling Maxwell received his Master of Arts degree from Cambridge. At this time he decided to write about Spanish art history. William Stirling - Maxwell took more trips to art in Spanish and British collections to study. In 1848 he published his Annals then Spanish artist. He ordered it the artist in his work chronologically by reign of kings and tried to understand them completely out of context out and about Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez understood not merely as an artistic genius. The book was positively received in the UK, while the German Carl Justi criticized that Stirling Maxwell had the artistic techniques neglected in his book. In 1852 he published with The Cloister Life of the Emperor Charles the Fifth his most successful book, which sold very well in the UK and also appeared in translation in Germany, Spain and the Netherlands. 1855 appeared Velazquez and his Works, which was based on the revised Künstlerannale and an annex was attached with prints of his works. Hilary Macartney rated this work as a benchmark putting, and it was a short time later been surpassed by Justis Velazquez biography. This book was published in Spanish, German and French. The French edition contained a written by Théophile Thoré catalog of the works of the artist. Between 1857 and 1859 Stirling - Maxwell worked on the translation of the Annals into Spanish, but this was never published. He published a fourth Annals band with the small edition of only 25 copies, containing developed by William Fox Talbot photographs and thus was the first art-historical work with such reproductions.
After his father had died in 1847, joined Stirling Maxwell to the legacy of Heir and Cawder. He began to collect books. His collection of emblem books is now in the library of the University of Glasgow. In addition, he also collected art, especially paintings and prints from Spain. They included the Spanish gallery of Louis- Philippe I, and the collection of Frank Hall Standish (1799-1840), as well as paintings by El Greco and prints by Francisco de Goya. Due to his interest in the photographic reproduction, he published several facsimile editions.
William Stirling - Maxwell was elected in 1852 to the Members of Parliament for Perthshire and maintained this position apart from an interruption in 1868-1874 until his death. In Parliament he was a member from 1853 to the Committee on Arts. Later he became a trustee of the National Gallery, National Portray Gallery and the British Museum.
After the death of his uncle he went to Pollok - owned near Glasgow. In 1863 he was knighted. 1865 married William Stirling Maxwell Anna Maria Leslie Melville. His wife died in 1874 in a fire at Keir House. In 1877 he married his second wife, Caroline Elizabeth Sarah Norton, but in the same year also died. Beginning of 1878 diseased William Stirling Maxwell in Venice on fever and died. He was buried in the crypt Keir near Dunblane. His collection and his land holdings were sold to his grandson.