Standing Tall On Culloden Battlefield – Scottish Art

Description

There’s a stark beauty to the Scottish Highlands in general, but I really felt it strongly as we walked the windswept fields at Culloden Battlefield. This square format art print is from that memorable stop. The sun was out in full force and it was possible to forget it was January in Scotland. The grass-covered moors of Culloden Battlefield were golden in the warm light, and one could almost forget that there was any significance to the place other than it was a fantastic British landscape to explore.

But this landscape was the backdrop for the last bloody battle for Scotland’s independence in 1746. Hundreds of years later, roaming the moors at Culloden Battlefield, you still feel the weight of history in this place. There was an eerie stillness that still seemed to resonate from that last battle even in the bright light of a new day.

The moors at Culloden Battlefield are primarily an open and grassy landscape. That fact made the trees you see in this print seem to stand a little taller, almost resolutely against the windswept field. When I saw that little cluster of trees I was drawn to them. I thought, perhaps somewhat fancifully, that they reminded me of a band of brothers in tight formation. Those lone trees almost seem to symbolize the proud Scots who died here on this open field so long ago.

Beyond the historical significance of the place, though, the landscapes of the Scottish Highlands are just a fantastic subject for any artist. The textures and colors of those moors on a sunny day have stuck with me for years since walking there. There’s a beauty to a Highland landscape that borders on the epic and translates so well into artwork. I still look at this print from Culloden Battlefield and feel a sense of awe that such a place is real and not merely a figment of the imagination. Doesn’t it call to you, too?