Probably the most striking products of the West Highland
schools of stone-carving are the figure sculptures of 'effigies'. The majority
of these were made on Iona and depict either men in distinctive West Highland
armour or churchmen (women and children were rarely portrayed). It is quite
possible that originally these effigies were richly painted, but that paint
has been lost over the centuries.
Iona was the burial-place of the Lords of the Isles, and that is probably why
it became the principal centre for the carving of memorial effigies. Many of
these appear to have been commissioned by other important landowners and 'exported'
to their local churches to be used to mark their graves as a potent status
symbol of their own wealth and power.
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Picture size:
525 x 700
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