University of Edinburgh Exhibitions | A mother’s hands (original) (raw)

Esther Inglis lived at a time when most women lacked opportunities for professional work or even an education which was comparable to that available to men. In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, educated women would usually only have been part of upper or aristocratic classes. Women from lower social orders would typically enter domestic service in their teens in preparation for later managing their own household economy as a wife. Esther Inglis’ role as a wife and mother is integrated into her work as both scribe and artist.

As a middle-class woman, even one so well-educated, Inglis would also have been responsible for the running of her household. She must have balanced the production of her manuscripts with her domestic role, especially when Bartilmo Kello travelled on his governmental duties. Producing her manuscripts from home, Esther Inglis’ calligraphy and artistry can be understood as a kind of cottage industry. The money that Inglis hoped to gain by presenting her manuscripts was intended to support the growing family which surrounded her. As this section shows, Esther Inglis was making her manuscripts amongst times of joy and grief, financial strain, and concern for her children’s future.