This painting, by the artist Thomas Danby, forms an example of the way in which titles of paintings can come to be changed throughout their history and how this can lead to very different ways in which the image is interpreted.

At some time since its original exhibition as 'An Escape' at the Royal Academy, London in 1864, the title of this painting came to be known as 'Escape of Mary Queen of Scots from Loch Leven Castle, May 2 1568' and by association has been thought to be an illustration to chapter thirty five of 'The Abbot', a novel by the writer Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832). However, the building is not Leven Castle and the female figure in the boat bears no resemblance to the well-established nineteenth century image of Mary Queen of Scots who did not, either in fact or fiction, retain possession of the infant James VI while she was in captivity.

The scene is, however, clearly intended to be Scottish and in a more generalised sense does derive from the popularity in the nineteenth century of scenes from history as portrayed by Sir Walter Scott. The painting expresses a mood of nostalgia and regret for the passing of an older heroic order which is the keynote in Scott's view of history and was one of his most lasting contribution to the Victorians' view of the past.