IT is the Monarch, but re-imagined in a post-modern weft and warp.
A new tapestry, skilfully made by weavers at the Dovecot Tapestry Studio in Edinburgh, sees Landseer’s Monarch of the Glen in a new light, re-drawn by the eyes of one of modern design’s biggest names, Peter Saville.
Saville’s take on the 1851 painting, which was recently bought for the nation by the National Galleries of Scotland, has been made into a 6.5ft by 5ft tapestry in wool and cotton.
The tapestry, which will be put on sale for around £65,000 when it undergoes its public “cutting off” ceremony next Wednesday, is entitled After, After, After Monarch of the Glen.
It was designed by Saville in 2002, inspired by another version of the image: a take on the painting by pop artist Sir Peter Blake.
Saville is perhaps best known for his work on a series of album sleeves for bands such as New Order and Joy Division and other bands on Factory Records in the 1980s.
The tapestry took three weavers more than 1,500 hours to create over eight months, led by Dovecote master weaver Naomi Robertson.
Five will be made in total, and Dovecote hopes that at least one of these will be shown in a public setting.
The tapestry will be cut from the loom next Wednesday, and the public are invited to attend: the first time the studio has invited the public to an event of its type.
The director of the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, Christopher Baker, will talk about the painting at the event. Weaver Emma Jo Webster, said that Saville’s almost abstract design presented its own difficulties.
“What was so difficult about this is that when you were working on it, closely, you had to keep standing back to see how it was all coming together,” she said. “You had see how the image flowed.”
The real Monarch of the Glen is on a tour across Scotland until May.
It is at Paisley Museum and Art Gallery from January 20 to March 11 and Kirkcudbright Galleries from March 25 to May 12. The painting was acquired by the National Galleries of Scotland in March last year for £4 million.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here