엘리자베스 키스(Elizabeth Keith)와 조선, 「이순신 장군 초상화 (추정)」검토 = A Review of Elizabeth Keith and Joseon, 'Portrait of Admiral Yi Sun-sin (presumed)'

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

It was considered that the portrait of Admiral Yi Sun-sin could not have been drawn due to the time difference between Yi Sun-sin's death in war in 1598 and the proclamation of a meritorious retainer in 1604. This paper is an attempt to estimate ‘Portrait of a Specific Person’ by Elizabeth Keith(1887-1956), a British Scottish painter, as ‘Portrait of Admiral Yi Sun-sin’ among the portraits of Yi Sun-sin drawn in modern times.
Elizabeth Keith visited Korea for the first time right after the March 1st Independence Movement in 1919, and then visited Korea several more times before visiting for the last time in 1939.
In the meantime, she seems to have seen and painted a portrait of Yi Sun-sin that existed at the time. She especially took a warm-hearted gaze at Koreans suffering from the severe Japanese Colonial Rule, and was also interested in the history of Korea. There was no direct evidence that she had known about Yi Sun-sin and the Turtle ship, but the possibility that she knew Yi Sun-sin could be found by some records.
The reason for presuming that the character of the portrait painted by Keith is Yi Sun-sin is the Turtle ship in the background of the portrait and the portraits of Yi Sun-shin painted by Choi Woo-seok in 1929 and by Lee Sang-beom in 1932. The paintings of Yi Sang-Bom, Choi Woo-Seok, and Keith have a lot in common. The portrait painted by Yi Sang-Bom is much more similar to Keith's than the portrait drawn by Choi Woo-Seok's. You can find commonalities in the face direction of the face, the hand itself, the whip, the chair, and the soldier's felt hat. The portraits painted by Keith, Yi Sang-Bom, and Choi Woo-Seok each have their own unique characteristics. The biggest difference is the background folding screen.
Keith’s painting of a folding screen featured in the Turtle ship in a portrait of a ‘specific person’ can be assumed to be a device for describing the portrait's main character as Yi Sun-sin. This is because the Turtle ship was an exceptional case even in Keith's paintings. However, the folding screen in the portrait drawn by Keith is a type of painting of naval drill in the Joseon Dynasty, but it is different from the general naval training painting at the time.
In most painting of naval exercise, the Panokseon, which is carried by the Chief of navy headquarters of Three Provinces, is the center, and Panokseon and Turtle ship appear together. In Keith's portrait, the Turtle ship is at the center. However, the Turtle ship drawn by Keith is different from the Turtle ship in 『Collection of Yi Chungmugong』 or the Turtle ship in naval training.
The Turtle ship she referenced is almost similar to the Turtle ship drawn overseas at that time. Considering that Keith used the Turtle ship he saw abroad as the background of the portrait, and the similarities between characters in the portraits of Yi Sang-Bom, Choi Woo-Seok, Keith', the character of Keith's painting can be presumed Admiral Yi Sun-sin.