Great House - Iona

Original acrylic on canvas by David Page. 

This painting is one of David's new 2026 collection, Grit and Grace: Iona. 

Each painting in The Last Munro exhibition is accompanied by a limited edition, large-format book, featuring the full collection and David's insightful personal notes.

ARTISTS DESCRIPTION:

The architect never entirely leaves this painter. In Book II (45) of Life of St Columba, Adomnán recounts the blessing of favourable winds that enabled the transport of building timber to Iona Abbey. Although the size of the original church on Iona is unknown, the scale of the oak trees floated across the water and guided by groups of curraghs suggests that the building may have been substantial.

Adomnán describes two such journeys. Of the first he writes:

“On the first of these, pine trees and oaks had been felled and dragged overland. Some were to be used in the making of a longship, and besides ship’s timbers there were also beams for a great house to be brought here to Iona”.

He later records a second occasion:

“The second time was several years later. Again, oak trees were being towed by a group of twelve curraghs from the mouth of the River Shiel to be used here in repairs to the monastery”.

Across the distance of centuries, we can only conjecture, but the scale of these efforts suggests that the early buildings at Iona may have been far larger and more ambitious than we often imagine.

Want to learn more about the collection? Read David's full artist statement here.