We do not have any concrete information as to why Sir William collected arms and armour. There are, however, clues. The works of Sir Walter Scott (1771–1832) outnumber all the other titles in Burrell’s Library and they are the most thumbed. Burrell’s daughter Marion recalled how she found her father’s ‘historical yarns immensely exciting’ on their jaunts in the Trossachs – the country of Rob Roy. In this talk, Curator of European Arms and Armour Ralph Moffat, will provide an insight into Sir William’s passion for the past and its possible influence on forming his collection.
Ralph Moffat is Curator of European Arms and Armour for Glasgow Museums. He is especially interested in the Medieval and Renaissance periods and in Scottish weapons of the seventeenth and eighteenth century. He is author of a three-volume sourcebook for the study of medieval arms and armour and, most recently, an Introduction to the arms and armour in the Burrell Collection.
