SMM+S

Adam Brown

Sir William Wallace Memorial
Location: Castle Gate, Edinburgh Castle
OS Ref:NT 251 735
Sculptor: Alexander Carrick

Wallace is on the North side of the gate and compliments Bruce on the South side.

Adam

jimmcginlay · Posted: Sun Nov 30, 2008 11:52 pm Post subject:

The statues of Wallace and Bruce on either side of the castle gateway were unveiled in 1929. The commission was full of controversy and arguments raged in the letters pages of all of the Scottish newspapers through 1928.
It was decided to put the design of the Reid Bequest memorial out to competition and various sculptors submitted entries. It was part of the terms of the competition that each sculptor was to work with an architect who would be responsible for the design of the niche. Alexander Carrick was unhappy with the whole idea of setting the sculptures into niches in the wall of the castle. Like many others he believed that the walls of a fortification are not the place for decoration. He therefore chose to work with Glasgow architect James B. Dunn on the commission. Dunn had already wroked on the Scotsman Building and collaborated with Carrick on many war memorials including at Killin. He submitted a design which was as simple as possible, essentially a basic frame of posts and lintels to frame the sculpture, thus preserving the impression of strength and solidity in the walls. By contrast Clapperton's architect Sir Robert Lorimer submitted an elaborate gothic design. In the end a compromise decision was reached, Clapperton's 'Bruce' and Lorimer's niches chosen, but with Carrick winning the commission for the Wallace statue.
Controversy continued as the public complained of Carrick's design incorporating a broadsword which was not historically correct, and with demands that Clapperton's portrait of Bruce be based on a forensic reconstruction of Bruce's skull taken from the grave at Dunfermline Abbey.
Eventually Carrick changed his original design (based on Donatello's Saint George) and seems to have subtly adapted his figure of Wallace to its architectural setting, since the decision was to place the sculpture in the wall Carrick used the wall and made it part of the memorial.
Carrick was commissioned by the University of Pittsburgh to cast bronze statuettes from the original working models of Wallace and Bruce that he submitted for the Reid competition and these now stand on the mantlepiece in the 'Scottish Classroom of the university, flanking a portrait of Robert Burns.
For more information on Carrick:
www.alexandercarrick.webeden.co.uk