The Welsh Hat and Salem
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The Welsh hat and links to the Salem picture.
The story behind that most potent of Welsh icons - the Salem picture, painted in 1908 by English artist Sidney Curnow Vosper and its links to a soap advert. But there's something not quite right about the picture - Welsh women in 1908 did not dress like this. Even the Welsh hats in the picture, another Welsh icon, had to be borrowed for the painting. Further they could only find one hat. But inspired by the success of the picture as a Welsh icon, the hat grew quickly to become a reflection of Welsh national identity with links to St David's Day which still persist in contemporary Wales.
From: Welsh Icons
First broadcast : 1 March 2011
Teachers' notes
Age Group : 9-11,11-14
Subject : History, Art & Design
Topic : Industrial Wales and Britain, Modern world, Victorians, Art history
Keywords : Education for Sustainable Development and Global Citizenship, national emblems of Wales, Welsh icons, traditional Welsh hat, Salem
Notes : Art and Design ; History of art topic; Assess the importance of art for providing historical evidence. History topics ; traditional costumes,history of the Welsh hat and what inspired it, Victorians. ESDGC topic ; study of national identity.
