As Alice Strang has explained:
“In 1920 Peploe was nearly fifty years old, but Iona inspired a new direction in his work. Unlike Cadell, who painted a catholic range of subjects all over the tiny island, during the next fifteen years Peploe concentrated on analysing the rocks and sands of the north end and views from it, especially of Ben More on nearby Mull ... Peploe initially lodged with the MacInneses at Cùlbhuirg, the principal farm in the west of Iona. Later, he and his family rented Lovedale in the village street.”
(Alice Strang et al, S. J. Peploe, National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh, 2012, p.24).
The painting Iona, offered in our June 2026 Scottish Paintings & Sculpture auction, is believed to depict the view from Cows Rock at the island's north end, looking across to Rum. It was a panorama that both Peploe and Cadell returned to time and again. Here, Peploe focuses on the brilliant white sands and sculptural geology of the foreground, placing the horizon high in the composition and drawing the viewer into the landscape. Flooded with Hebridean sunshine beneath an expansive blue sky, the scene captures the clarity of light that brought him back to Iona year after year.
The painting was acquired from Peploe by his friend and patron, the Aberdonian schoolteacher and His Majesty’s Inspector of Schools in Scotland, Archibald Forbes Hyslop (1892-1943), and has remained in his extended family ever since. Its long family ownership gives the painting an especially distinguished provenance, linking it directly to one of Peploe's earliest and most loyal patrons. In 1993, following the death of Hyslop’s widow, Winifred Reid, 19 paintings by Peploe were bequeathed to Aberdeen Art Gallery as part of the Hyslop Collection Bequest. They included three of Iona, namely Blue Sea, Iona (acc. no. ABDAG010712), Cathedral Rock, Iona (acc. no. ABDAG010719) and Iona, Grey Day (acc. no. ABDAG010708), whilst works by artists such as Robert Brough, George Leslie Hunter, William Gillies, Duncan Grant and D. M. Sutherland were also part of the bequest.
Seen alongside the paintings in the Hyslop Bequest, Iona demonstrates the importance of the island within Peploe's work. It also reflects the artistic partnership between Peploe and Cadell, whose shared fascination with the Hebridean landscape helped define a remarkable chapter in Scottish art.
Peploe's letter of 1918 speaks of an artist longing to return to Iona. This painting shows that wish fulfilled. It captures the light, landscape and sense of place that kept drawing him back to the Hebrides for the rest of his life.
