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).
Iona, offered in our Scottish Paintings & Sculpture auction in June 2026, is believed to depict a view from Cows Rock in the North End looking over to Rhum, a panorama that Peploe and Cadell enjoyed painting. Peploe focused on the pure white sand and geological features of the foreground, setting the horizon line some three-quarters towards the top of the composition, as if inviting the viewer to enter and enjoy walking across the beach. The scene is lit by bright sunshine and is presided over by a brilliant blue sky.
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. 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.
