Roslin Chapel, near Edinburgh, showing the 'Prentice Pillar'
Watercolour
1809 (painted)
1809 (painted)
Artist/Maker | |
Place of origin |
Interior view of Roslin Chapel depicting the so-called 'Prentice Pillar'. Signed and dated.
Object details
Categories | |
Object type | |
Title | Roslin Chapel, near Edinburgh, showing the 'Prentice Pillar' (generic title) |
Materials and techniques | Watercolour |
Brief description | Watercolour by George Shepherd, after J. M. Gandy, depicting an interior view of Roslin Chapel, near Edinburgh, showing the 'Prentice Pillar'. Great Britain, 1809. |
Physical description | Interior view of Roslin Chapel depicting the so-called 'Prentice Pillar'. Signed and dated. |
Dimensions |
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Credit line | William Smith Bequest |
Object history | Roslin Chapel, famous for its sculpture and elaborate decorative carving, was founded in 1446. But the admittedly unlikely, legend of the 'Prentice Pillar' ensured further celebrity. The unusual design of the pillar, four strips of foliage spiralling upwards from a base of entwined serpents, is supposed to have been planned and executed by a young apprentice while the master mason was absent; on his return, he murdered his pupil as a punishment for his presumption. For his composition, Shepherd used a meticulously measured drawing by the architect J.M.Gandy, who exhibited two such drawings of Roslin in 1807 and 1809. |
Subjects depicted | |
Place depicted | |
Collection | |
Accession number | 3031-1876 |
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Record created | December 15, 1999 |
Record URL |
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