Stirling's Famous Heads

24/12/2008

The Stirling Heads are one of Scotland’s greatest but least understood Renaissance treasures.

Research sponsored by Historic Scotland is helping shed light on who might be depicted in the large oak carvings and why they were created.  It has been carried out as part of a £12 million project to return the royal palace at Stirling Castle to how it may have looked in the 1540s and create a new gallery where the heads will go on permanent public display.

Measuring up to a metre in diameter and shaped like medallions, the heads date from the mid-sixteenth century, and adorned the ceilings of one, or more, of the most important chambers of the royal palace at Stirling Castle.

Kings, Queens & Emperors

Dr Sally Rush, a senior lecturer from Glasgow University’s History of Art Department, believes those that have survived to the present day may include portraits of Scottish kings James I and James V, the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, the English King Henry VIII and his sister Margaret Tudor.

“Had you walked into the King’s Presence Chamber when the ceiling was complete I think you would have seen a whole sequence of Stewart kings, all the James’s from I to V.

“It was a statement by James V to say that his dynasty went back a long way in an unbroken line and had the inalienable right to rule over Scotland.

“The presence of Henry VIII and Margaret Tudor, mother of James V, is also a reminder of his claim to the English throne.

“There would probably have been other European rulers of the day as well, such as the Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V, showing that James V had powerful allies.”

The palace was begun by James V in around 1538 as a home for his new French bride Mary de Guise.  Dr Rush suspects that the carvings of Scottish royals were taken from official portraits belonging to James V and other family members.

It is even possible that a French portrait artist, Pierre Quesnel, working at the court of James V produced drawings which were used as models for some of the carvings.

Fashion

A number of the male and female characters are in the latest Italian fashions.  These include deeply slashed doublets for men and low-cut dresses, loose hair in long tresses topped with little caps for the women.

Dr Rush said: “These are the latest looks that would be popular with the young bucks and high born women on the Continent.

“They gave out a message that James V was in touch with what was going on across the channel, as part of modern Europe.

“I suspect that a lot of Scottish courtiers would be thinking how much they wanted to keep up by getting hold of similar clothes for themselves.”

The collection also included great heroes and historical figures with whom James V wanted to be associated.

Dr Rush believes one head shows Julius Caesar, who was among the Nine Worthies.

These were Christian, Jewish and pagan figures like King Arthur, Joshua and Alexander the Great, who were famous warriors and conquerors.

King James V died in 1542, aged just 30, with the crown passing to the infant Mary Queen of Scots, leaving Scotland to endure decades of chaos.

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