Abstract
Abstract: In this article, I examine the paisley shawl within and through two paintings, Portrait of a Devonian (ca. 1908) and The Paisley Shawl (ca. 1910), by Glasgow School of Art director Francis H. Newbery (1855–1946). The paintings feature the same sitter and were completed decades after the shawl declined as a feature of British fashion. Using primary sources to expound upon the sitter’s identity, and drawing from the artist’s biography, I argue that these portraits testify to both sitter’s and artist’s nostalgia for an iconic Victorian fashion and manufacturing industry. As I explain, the shawl had varied meanings for different people and in different contexts. These included femininity, family, and life passages, as well as patriotism, a successful alliance between art and manufacturing, and Britain’s technological triumph over other parts of the globe.