In Depth And In Full Colour: Mary Queen of Scots (Mary Queen of Scots - Susan Watkins)

Member Name: dooeyyooey

Product:	Mary Queen of Scots - Susan Watkins
Date:	06/08/09 (109 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Well-written, detailed biography. Extraordinarily beautiful photography. Excellent illustrations.

Disadvantages: None.

First published in 2001, this book is both a biography of the Scottish Queen, and an illustrated journey through her momentous life.

Written by Susan Watkins, a Canadian historian, lecturer and broadcaster, the book vividly recounts Mary's life story, from her birth in Scotland and her upringing in France, to her return to Scotland at the age of eighteen and turbulent existence thereafter.

Watkin's narration, with its clarity and fluidity, is a pleasure to read.
The book is not given to debates, conjectures or speculations, nor does it explore new theories on the various aspects of Mary's life. Instead, it presents the known biographical facts in a very clear and straightforward manner.
For all its ease of reading it is, however, extremely thorough and detailed in the information it provides.
Because of its large, "coffee table" format, and the lavishness of the illustrations, I had expected the visual content to greatly surpass in quality the written information. Not so: It is in fact, one of the most complete biographies of the Queen of Scots that I have come across.

Accompanying the biography are 194 colour illustrations. These include reproductions of paintings, drawings, engravings and woodcuttings as well as high quality photographs of the lands, houses, rooms and artefacts that Mary owned, lived in or was associated with.

It is the exceptional quality of the illustrations that sets this biography apart from others and takes it to another level which would have me give it 6 stars, if possible:
It is one thing to read factual information, description and opinion on something or someone, but it is another to see the universe that they inhabited.
Mark Fiennes is an eximious photographer of landscapes, interiors and architecture, and his work captures not only the physical appearance of its subjects but, just as importantly, their essence and atmosphere.

In his photographs Scotland shines in all her rugged beauty, just as the French palaces cintillate in their ornate sophistication.
As viewers we marvel at the contrast and imagine what a shock it must have been for Mary to leave behind the sumptuous luxury of the French court and find herself in the imposing but dark and rustic Scottish dwellings.

The book also includes the most extensive collection of contemporary portraits of Mary that I have ever seen.
It is interesting to note that, in a time when portraiture was still highly stylised and often unrealistic, such is the accordance between her various portraits, from charcoal drawings to oil paintings, from her childhood to her adulthood, that Mary is one of the very few historical figures of her time that I feel confident of having a reasonably accurate idea of what she looked like in person.

My favourite illustrations are those that concern Mary's personal artefacts: the book features high quality images of her papers (showing her clear, even writing), photos of her lodgings, furniture and jewels, all enlarged to a scale in which every detail is clearly visible, which allows us to appreciate the beauty and intricacy of the objects.
For example, a few details of Mary's embroideries are shown, and every fibre of every strand of every stich is clearly visible. I have seen some of her embroideries in person, and I could not then discern the detail that I can in the book's images.

The only negative that I can point out is the inclusion of a few victorian paintings of Mary - these were done centuries after her death and are mere romanticised accounts that although not without their artistic merits, do not belong in a historical biography.

The book's dimensions are 25.2 cm x 24.4 cm x 3 cm, and it is available both on hardcover and paperback editions.

The hardcover edition is available for £18.95 from Amazon.
The paperback edition is available for £10.47, also from Amazon.

This is a wonderful book, which I have enjoyed immensely, and I highly recommend it to anybody who has an interest in Mary herself, or in British and French 16th century history.

Summary: A beautiful, thorough and illustrated guide to the life of Mary, Queen of Scots.