Killin, a new sling for David?

Above - Michaelangelo's David (the copy) grasps the primative sling on his shoulder while (left) Carrick's Killin highlander grasps the sling of his shouldered rifle.

Like Lochawe the Killin memorial stands on a Highland cairn type pedestal constructed of local stone. At Lochawe several small standing stones are sited around the memorial. At Killin, where there were no such stones, Carrick created them in the form of the post and lintel construction of the low stone benches which surround the memorial like an ancient megalithic circle. The entire layout of the memorial was beautifully conceived by Carrick working with architect James B. Dunn.

Carrick’s concepts however could often draw on and blend different traditions. While the overall concept of the monument was that of an ancient standing stone the figure of the soldier itself, the face and posture, seems to be clearly based on Michelangelo's David. Carrick was an admirer of Renaissance art and the idea of basing the work on David, the sculpture which Michelangelo carved to symbolise the heroic vigour of the Florentine Republic and its stand against the autocratic powers of Milan and Rome would have seemed appropriate.

Carrick also appears to have played on a pun on this occasion. The posture of both works are very similar, but while Michelangelo's David grasps with his left hand the primitive sling with which he slew Goliath; Carrick’s highlander grasps the sling of a modern rifle; the rifle with which he faced the goliath of Prussian militarism.