Killin, before the battle

Below - Another old postcard of the Killin memorial with its spectacular backdrop.

Early sculptures of David had traditionally portrayed him after thr battle, victorious over the defeated Goliath. Michaelangelo's famous sculpture has however often been described as a portrayal of the biblical hero before the battle, creating an image which affirmed the resolve of Florence to resist its powerful enemies. The Renaissance sculptor is often acclaimed for having captured the moment of decision as the shepherd boy makes his stand and prepares to go into action against the giant Goliath armed only with a simple slingshot. In a similar way the Killin soldier has been portrayed in an attitude of alert readyness, a pose which also lends itself to further elevating the status of the stone itself by echoing its mass and solidity. The highlander clad in goatskin jerkin, and perhaps a shepherd himself, is prepared to make the ultimate sacrifice as so many did.

If it is true that Carrick did draw inspiration from the famous Florentine sculpture for his Killin soldier then it is also possible that he saw his bronze sculpture of a highland soldier at Dornoch titled 'After the Battle' as a complementary work. At Dornoch a similar soldier who also wears a goatskin jerkin and bonnet is portrayed returned to his lines after an action and surveying the horizon for his comrades who will never return.

Carrick studied for two years at the London College of Art under Professor Edouard Lanteri. The Belgian artist's first classes for all new students involved their modelling of the lips, eyes, nose and ears, all of which were to be carefully copied by the students from face masks which were themeselves copies from a plaster cast taken of the actual head of Michelangelo's David. Carrick was therefore already well aquainted with Michelangelo's sculpture and presumably kept his copies from Lanteri's classes which would have provided him with ready templates for the Killin Highlander's face.

In his textbook 'Modelling and Sculpting the Human Figure' Lanteri wrote 'The best models for the datails of the face I consider to be those taken from the mask of Michel-Angelo's "David".