2019 marks the 200th anniversary of the death of James Watt, the scientist and engineer. This chapter introduces the ways in which he has been portrayed in public art, such as William Bloye’s gilded statue of Watt, Matthew Boulton and William Murdock in Birmingham. The Introduction also looks at how Watt as a scientist, engineer and individual has been represented by writers and historians since his death. His depiction as a great man began in his obituary by Francis Jeffrey and continued in the first biographies by François Arago and James Patrick Muirhead. The projection of Watt as a national hero was substantially due to his son, James Watt junior’s filial project to celebrate his father in publications, monuments, paintings and medals. History and popular writing in the twentieth century focused attention on Watt as a steam engineer, which is the way in which he is largely perceived today. The Introduction draws attention to the ways in which writers in this volume have broadened our understanding of Watt in the twenty-first century.
