Ideas about the Scottish Highlands which took hold around the turn of the 19th century remain to the present day - for many people across the world Highland dress, bagpipes and Highland landscapes are the images of Scotland that first spring to mind. National Museums Scotland holds a significant collection of Highland dress and tartan clothing. The aim of Rosie Waine's two-year research project include a survey of the collection and an exploration of how such outfits became an integral part of Scottish identity on a global stage.

Dramatic Highland landscapes, heroic histories, tartan and bagpipes are among the defining images of Scotland for many people around the world. From the Romantic movement of the 18th and early 19th centuries to Queen Victoria's Highland idyll at Balmoral, Wild and Majestic considers the origins of these ideas and explores how romantic interpretations of the cultural traditions of the Scottish Highlands and Islands became enduring symbols of wider Scottish identity. This book accompanied a landmark exhibition at the National Museum of Scotland in 2019. It charts Scotland's journey into the global imagination and invites you to think again about the meaning and relevance of ideas that continue to define Scotland today.