Research on the stone sculpture and wood carvings, the Stirling Heads, from the Renaissance palace at Stirling Castle began in 2003 and was intended to support the re-presentation and interpretation of the palace, completed in 2009.
For the first time in over two hundred years, the Stirling Heads can be seen together in a dedicated gallery space on the first floor. With so many individual sculptures and carvings to identify and interpret within a limited time frame, the thinking around each one was taken to a point of sufficient understanding but no further. The research, however, remains ongoing.
Individual Stirling Heads have been revisited and contextualised with more complexity and depth: see Sally Rush, ‘The Stirling Heads: an essay in nobility’, in Bøggild Johannsen, B. and Ottenheym, K. (eds.) Beyond Scylla and Charybdis: European courts and court residences outside Habsburg and Valois/Bourbon territories 1500-1700. Series: Publications from the National Museum: studies in archaeology & history (24). University Press of Southern Denmark: Odense, pp. 225-236; Sally Rush, ‘Looking at Mary of Guise’, Etudes Epistémè, 37 (2020) - (doi: 10.16995/ntn.2897). Future publications on Scottish Renaissance sculpture are planned
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Audiences:
Members, Researchers, Educators, Visitors, Conservation and Heritage Enthusiasts -
Date Published:
11 May 2023 -
Publisher:
Historic Environment Scotland -
Publication Types:
Research and Study Report -
Author(s):
Dr Sally Rush
Senior Lecturer in History of Art, University of Glasgow -
Format(s):
Download PDF
Download PDF
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Language:
English -
Subjects:
Archaeology, Architecture, History, Scotland