Rocks, Iona

Peploe first visited Iona in 1920 and was to return most years until his death in 1935. Although the wild weather often frustrated him, the island provided him with inspiring subject matter, particularly the north end of the island with its massive, craggy rocks rising from white sands. He wrote to his friend William Macdonald in November 1923, 'We had miserable weather in Iona this year - worst in living memory - gales and rain the whole time. I got very little done. But that kind of weather suits Iona; the rocks and distant shores seen through falling rain, veil behind veil, take on an elusive, mysterious quality, and when the light shines through one has visions of rare beauty. I think I prefer it these days to your blue skies and clear distances' (see S. Cursiter, Peploe, London, 1947, p. 71).