Heel Stone. Edgar Barclay (1842-1913) 1881. Oil on canvas: (39 x 75 cm). Collection of Salisbury Library & Galleries, Wiltshire, accession no. SBYEB:EB1. Click on image to enlarge it.
The Heel Stone is a single large standing stone erected in the Neolithic period that is within the Avenue outside the entrance of the Stonehenge earthwork in Wiltshire. It is located 254 feet (77.4 meters) from the centre of the Stonehenge circle. Barclay was obviously fascinated with Stonehenge and painted many views of it and its surroundings. Barclay was an amateur historian and wrote the book Stonehenge and Its Earth-Works in1895. He also gave lectures on Stonehenge, including to the British Archaeological Association in 1893. Barclay erroneously believed that Stonehenge was constructed at the time of Gnaeus Julius Agricola, the Roman governor of Britannia from 77-85 AD.
Barclay shows a shepherd with his flock that is grazing on the grassland of the Salisbury Plain. The huge Heel Stone in the centre is the focal point of the composition. Despite the location of the painting being in England it is treated in a typical Etruscan School manner in its format. It is painted in the bright sunshine however rather than at dawn or at twilight. — Dennis T. Lanigan
Last modified 20 December 2022