Lady Isabel Seton, Countess of Lauderdale

Lady Isabel Seton Countess of Lauderdale
Born	1594
Died	1638
Known for	Embroidery on natural and classical themes
Title	Countess of Lauderdale
Spouse	John Maitland, 1st Earl of Lauderdale
Children	15, four survived infancy John Maitland, 1st Duke of Lauderdale Robert Maitland Charles Maitland, 3rd Earl of Lauderdale
Parents	Lilias Drummond Alexander Seton, 1st Earl of Dunfermline

Isabel (or Isobel) Seton (1594–1638) was a Scottish noblewoman known for her embroidery, which was the subject of nine neo-Latin epigrams by the Scottish poet Arthur Johnston.

Life and Family

Born in 1594, Isabel Seton was the second of five daughters born to Lilias Drummond and Alexander Seton, First Earl of Dunfermline. She married John Maitland, the second Lord Maitland of Thirlestane (d. 1645), who was created earl of Lauderdale in 1624. On the 18th June 1610, she and her husband were granted a charter of the lands of Gilbertoun and others.

Seton gave birth to fifteen children, seven sons and eight daughters, of whom only four survived. Her eldest son John Maitland became a prominent Scottish politician who was made Duke of Lauderdale in 1672. She died in 1638 and was buried in Haddington, East Lothian.

Embroidery

While Seton's tapestries do not survive, they were celebrated in a series of nine neo-Latin epigrams written by the Scottish poet Arthur Johnston and published in the Delitiae Poetarum Scotorum (1637). In these epigrams, Johnston uses classical allusions to celebrate Seton's embroidery. He associates her closely with Minerva, the Roman goddess of weaving, and the first and last epigrams describe her as 'the Minerva of Lauderdale' (Minervae...Laderdeliae). Epigrams 2-7 praise her marvellous and naturalistic depiction of flowers, fruits, animals, birds, fish, and the planets, which are pictured in the guise of Roman gods. The eighth epigram describes Seton's portrayal of the Roman heroine Lucretia.