![The road to the Isles](https://cdn.magzter.com/1387284093/1724157928/articles/hEEDcGfPc1724326514151/THE-ROAD-TO-THE-ISLES.jpg)
TO the chagrin of many Scots, the Victorian stereotype of the Romantic North remains the prevailing image of the Highlands.
The best-known paintings of the region are still those sublime landscapes by Horatio McCulloch or Edwin Landseer, featuring a ruined castle or stags.
One exception is the group of luminous works by the Scottish Colourists, who introduced their Mediterranean palette to the Hebrides in the 1920s. They were not the first painters to discover Iona—see, for example, the lovely views by John Duncan, who first visited the sacred isle in 1903 and would make it the setting of some of his most important Symbolist works. Francis Cadell, who first went in 1912, wrote to his fellow Colourist Samuel Peploe: ‘When the War is over I shall go to the Hebrides, recover some virtues I have lost. There is something marvellous about those western seas. Oh, Iona. We must all go together.’ Peploe joined him there in 1920 and, over the next 15 years, they made regular summer painting trips. Looking out from the rugged foreshore over dazzling white sands and turquoise sea to the purple-shadowed hills of Mull, they captured the revelatory light and chromatic intensity of this beautiful seaboard as no artists had done before.
This story is from the August 21, 2024 edition of Country Life UK.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the August 21, 2024 edition of Country Life UK.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
![Happiness in small things](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/5168/1828669/mf8lKaEmG1726038722887/HAPPINESS-IN-SMALL-THINGS.jpg)
Happiness in small things
Putting life into perspective and forces of nature in farming
![Colour vision](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/5168/1828669/7YAj_VpOg1726038563289/COLOUR-VISION.jpg)
Colour vision
In an eye-baffling arrangement of geometric shapes, a sinister-looking clown and a little girl, Test Card F is one of television’s most enduring images, says Rob Crossan
!['Without fever there is no creation'](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/5168/1828669/VJIVdvBcU1726038380972/WITHOUT-FEVER-THERE-IS-NO-CREATION.jpg)
'Without fever there is no creation'
Three of the top 10 operas performed worldwide are by the emotionally volatile Italian composer Giacomo Puccini, who died a century ago. Henrietta Bredin explains how his colourful life influenced his melodramatic plot lines
![The colour revolution](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/5168/1828669/bOl6DSmiC1726038097329/THE-COLOUR-REVOLUTION.jpg)
The colour revolution
Toxic, dull or fast-fading pigments had long made it tricky for artists to paint verdant scenes, but the 19th century ushered in a viridescent explosion of waterlili
![Bullace for you](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/5168/1828669/9yrUKqBgR1726037988939/BULLACE-FOR-YOU.jpg)
Bullace for you
The distinction between plums, damsons and bullaces is sweetly subtle, boiling down to flavour and aesthetics, but don’t eat the stones, warns John Wright
![Lights, camera, action!](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/5168/1828669/LOYrZ-iYR1726037799030/LIGHTS-CAMERA-ACTION.jpg)
Lights, camera, action!
Three remarkable country houses, two of which have links to the film industry, the other the setting for a top-class croquet tournament, are anything but ordinary
![I was on fire for you, where did you go?](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/5168/1828669/8vNS80pTG1726037613482/I-WAS-ON-FIRE-FOR-YOU-WHERE-DID-YOU-GO.jpg)
I was on fire for you, where did you go?
In Iceland, a land with no monks or monkeys, our correspondent attempts to master the art of fishing light’ for Salmo salar, by stroking the creases and dimples of the Midfjardara river like the features of a loved one
![Bravery bevond belief](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/5168/1828669/hIXEDzn-C1726037336735/BRAVERY-BEVOND-BELIEF.jpg)
Bravery bevond belief
A teenager on his gap year who saved a boy and his father from being savaged by a crocodile is one of a host of heroic acts celebrated in a book to mark the 250th anniversary of the Royal Humane Society, says its author Rupert Uloth
![Let's get to the bottom of this](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/5168/1828669/-X02p6wQE1726036889166/LETS-GET-TO-THE-BOTTOM-OF-THIS.jpg)
Let's get to the bottom of this
Discovering a well on your property can be viewed as a blessing or a curse, but all's well that ends well, says Deborah Nicholls-Lee, as she examines the benefits of a personal water supply
![Sing on, sweet bird](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/5168/1828669/upJuA3JbH1726036596234/SING-ON-SWEET-BIRD.jpg)
Sing on, sweet bird
An essential component of our emotional relationship with the landscape, the mellifluous song of a thrush shapes the very foundation of human happiness, notes Mark Cocker, as he takes a closer look at this diverse family of birds