For two centuries and more, native and visiting artists have tried to capture the moody grandeur of Snowdonia. This book presents thirty memorable attempts, beginning with Richard Wilson’s famous view of Snowdon from Llyn Nantlle, and ending with a recent landscape by Kyffin Williams. The range includes masterpieces by Turner, Augustus John and others.
The pictures themselves are supplemented by full notes on the artists and their work, and by directions enabling the reader to find the spot where they were painted. The book may therefore be used as a companion by art-loving visitors to Snowdonia, or enjoyed simply for the beauty and interest of the canvases.
James Bogle has been a regular visitor to North Wales for nearly 30 years, coming for mountain walking, climbing and enjoyment of the countryside with his family. Though he does not himself draw or paint, he has artistic ancestors: one Victorian was a Royal Academician. For several years he has been a Friend of the Mostyn Art Gallery in Llandudno.
Foreword
Artists in Snowdonia consists of an introduction and 30
reproductions of landscapes painted by various artists, all of which lie within
the National Park or very near it. They seek to show how artists have responded
to the scenery of Snowdonia over more than 200 years. For interest, the place
of painting is included in a note; a comparison of the painting with the scene
today can be revealing and several of the viewpoints are especially attractive.
Introduction
The Paradox
Snowdonia is popular.
It has been estimated that some 400,000 people make the ascent to the summit of
Snowdon each year, whether by foot or by train. Snowdon is Britain’s most
visited mountain. There is a visitor rate to the Snowdonia National Park of 9
million visitor days per year. People come to Snowdonia in very large numbers
with the intention of enjoying the beauty of a district which includes the
highest mountains in England or Wales.
The contrast with 250
years ago could hardly be greater, for then Snowdonia was very isolated. Not
only were there hardly any visitors other than those who came of necessity;
those who did make the journey found what they saw distasteful and disturbing,
by no means enjoyable or beautiful. Daniel Defoe in his Tour of Britain thought the Welsh mountains horrid, frightful and barbarous;
Snowdon a monstrous height; the Welsh
mountains outdid the Alps in the terror
of their aspect and in difficulty of
access to them. One English visitor described the environs of Snowdon as the Fag Endof Creation; the very rubbish of
Noah’s Flood. He was using conventional language from the previous century,
but his description clearly expressed his dislike of the area. Even in 1768,
when others had begun to take a different point of view, Sir Harbottle Grimston
could only describe Snowdonia as dreary.
In part such distaste can be put down to the sheer difficulties of travelling,
to bad roads, to poor or even non-existent accommodation and to the dangers a
visitor might meet; but beyond that the mountains themselves were felt to be
oppressive, threatening and ugly. How then did the change come about so that
the mountains no longer aroused horror and dislike, but widespread admiration?
A variety of writers and travellers played their part and notable among them
were the artists.
Precursors
Hywel ap Owain, Prince
of Gwynedd, sang in appreciation of his beloved Meirionnydd as far back as the
twelfth century. It shows that from an early date the mountains of Snowdonia
could be loved by those who lived there. The bards who followed him dwelt on
the strength and majesty of the mountains in their mantle of ice and snow. But
the mountains could also seem unwelcoming even to those who lived among them.
One later welsh poet, living in the wilds of the mountains among the grey
rocks, with only seagulls for company, longed for the gentle lushness of the
forest and for the habitations of his fellow men.
The seventeenth
century saw travellers come to Wales and climb the mountains, especially
Snowdon – such men as Thomas Johnson, John Ray, Edward Lhuyd and Edmund Halley.
Their chief interests were scientific and botanical and there is little to show
that they enjoyed the mountain scenery as such; although Lhuyd, who had a
considerable knowledge of the area, perhaps rather daringly made out a case for
the attractiveness of the variety of the scenery in Meirionnydd, including the
high mountains.
An English visitor to
Wales in the first half of the i8th century who did appreciate what he saw was
Thomas Herring, Bishop of Bangor from 1738 to 1743. Visitor he was, in spite of
being bishop of the diocese which included Snowdonia, for he was also Dean of
Rochester and he no doubt found that deanery a good deal more convenient and
comfortable than the bishop’s residence in Bangor. In 1738 he wrote to a friend
after what he described as the most agreeable journey he had ever had in his
life – his first visit to North Wales. He found Wales a country altogether as entertaining as it was new. The face of it is
grand and bespeaks the magnificence of nature. Level ground and the little
artificialities of landscape gardening would seem contemptible after I had been agreeably terrified with
something like the rubbish of creation. Although he used conventional
unflattering language, the rubbish of
creation, and was terrified, it was an agreeable terror that he felt when
he was confronted with mountain scenery. The
things which entertained me were the vast ocean, and ranges of rocks, whose
foundations are hid, and whose tops reach the clouds. Herring went on to
describe an evening’s outing, the memory of which he especially treasured,
along the shore, into a village with a church and houses at the entrance to a
deep valley, up which his party proceeded till
our prospect was closed, though much illuminated, by a prodigious cataract from
a mountain, that did as it were, shut the valley. It seems likely that
Herring was describing an excursion from Bangor across the Traeth Lafan to the
village of Aber and on to the Aber Falls (Rhaeadr Fawr). Herring commented, All these images together put me much in
mind of Poussin’s drawing … Indeed both the journey and the country, and the
residence were most pleasing to me. Herring did not seem to have considered
venturing up a mountain, but he certainly was beginning to appreciate Welsh
mountain scenery. His contrast between that and the little niceties of art in
landscape gardening, which loomed so very large in 18th century
taste, is particularly illuminating; so is his comparison of the landscape to
the works of Poussin.
It does not seem that
Herring’s interest was taken up; his letter describing his journey was not
published until 1777, twenty years after his death. 1741 saw the first recorded
ascent of Snowdon for fun. This was
by a party led by William Morris, one of the brothers from Anglesey famous for
their concern for Welsh antiquities and culture. The party had bad weather, so
no comment was made on the view. The 1740’s saw topographical draughtsmen
beginning to penetrate the mountainous regions in North Wales to depict well
known castles. Samuel and Nathaniel Buck were pioneers and they published a
view of Dolbadarn Castle in 1742; they claimed to have made drawings on the
spot. But they had no interest at all in the mountain scenery; their concern
was purely with the buildings, and the mountains they drew were stilted. John
Boydell was also active in the 1740’s publishing engravings made from his own
drawings, including those made in Wales, and they were extremely popular. But
neither was he interested in the mountains. However these artists did pave the
way for later ones who were.
In 1752 Sir George
(later Lord) Lyttleton made the first of his journeys to Wales. Lyttleton was a
man of culture, a politician, a writer, a poet and a keen landscape gardener.
He lived at Hagley Hall, near Birmingham, where the Welsh mountains formed a
background to his grounds. There is no record of his impression of this, his first
visit to Wales, but it was to be one of several.
In 1755 Lyttleton
wrote two descriptive letters to a friend about his second journey to Wales,
this time to the North. Not unnaturally he had an interest in the homes and
estates of the gentry, but he also took an interest in the natural landscape.
Indeed he seems to have gone further than most in making the full ascent of the
mountains. When Lyttleton reached the Berwyns and made the ascent, he was
filled with awful astonishment. Nature in
all her majesty is there; but it is the majesty of a tyrant, frowning over the
ruins and desolation of a country. The enormous mountains, or rather rocks, of
Merionethshire inclosed us all around. There is not upon these mountains a tree
or shrub, or a blade of grass; nor did we see any marks of habitations or
culture in the whole space. Between them is a solitude fit for Despair to
inhabit whereas all we had seen before in Wales seemed formed to inspire the
meditations of Love. Lyttleton here fell back on the older language in
which the mountains were the ruins and desolation of creation; there is no
appreciation of them. It was different however when he came to Snowdonia.
At first the mountains
here seemed forbidding too. He commented on the view from Traeth Mawr, The view of the sands is terrible, as they
are hemmed in on each side with very high hills, but broken into a thousand
irregular shapes. At one end is the ocean, at the other the formidable
mountains of Snowdon, black and naked rocks, which seem to be piled one above
the other. The summits of some of them are covered with clouds and cannot be
ascended. They do altogether strongly excite the idea of Burnet, of their being
the fragment of a demolished world. But then the next day the weather
changed and the sun shone. The grandeur
of the ocean, corresponding with that of the mountain, formed a majestic and
solemn scene; ideas of immensity swelled and exalted our minds at the sight;
all lesser objects appeared mean and trifling so that we could hardly do
justice to the ruins of an old castle.
There followed the
account of the ascent of a
mountain. This morning (July 7th)
being fair, we ventured to climb up to the top of a mountain, not indeed so
high as Snowdon, which is here called Moel Guidon, i.e. the nest of the Eagle;
but one degree lower than that called Moel Happock, the nest of the hawk; from
whence we saw a phenomenon, new to our eyes, but common in Wales. While
Snowdonia is called Eryri, nest of the Eagle, Moel Guidon is not otherwise
known. Moel Happock is obviously Moel Hebog, mountain of the hawk, easily
reached from Bryncir, where Lyttleton was staying. On one side was midnight, on the other bright day; the whole extent of
the mountain of Snowdon, on our left hand, was wrapped in clouds, from top to
bottom; but on the right, the sun shone most gloriously over the sea coast of
Caernarvon. The hill we stood upon was perfectly clear, the way we came up a
pretty easy ascent; but before us was a precipice of many hundred yards, and
below a vale which though not cultivated has much savage beauty; the sides were
steep, and fringed with low wood. There were two little lakes or rather large
pools, that stood in the bottom, from which issued a rivulet, that serpentines
in view for two or three miles, and was a pleasing relief to the eyes.
Lyttleton is likely to have been looking down on Llyn Gwynant and Llyn Dinas
and the valley of the Afon Glaslyn. But
the mountain of Snowdon, covered with darkness and thick clouds, called to my
memory the fall of Mount Sinai, with the laws delivered from it, and filled my
mind with religious awe. Lyttleton’s account has been quoted extensively
for it stands among the earliest records of an ascent of a mountain in
Snowdonia for pleasure and interest – his journey was undertaken so that I may, by this ramble, preserve a
stock of health that may last all winter and carry me through my parliamentary
campaign. It also, at least in part, takes a fresh attitude towards
mountain scenery.
At the same time as
the beginning of mountain travel in Wales, there was a revival of interest in
Welsh culture, in the Welsh language and literature, in antiquities and
generally in matters Welsh. Pioneers in this work were Lewis Morris and his
brothers from Anglesey, already mentioned. The movement spread to Welshmen
living in London, and there in 1751 the Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion was
founded for the preservation of Welsh language, poetry and customs, led by a
number of wealthy and distinguished Welshmen. The Celtic revival was quite
widely noticed in English literary circles, most notably by Thomas Gray, the
poet, who wrote ‘The Bard’ in 1757. Its theme is the legend that Edward I, the
conqueror of Wales, slaughtered all the bards as he advanced until but one was
left, standing upon the slopes of Snowdon, watching the troops approach. He
uttered a great curse on the king and his line before casting himself off a
rock into the foaming water below. There is no indication that Gray had ever
visited North Wales, but his poem, which was widely read, helped to arouse
interest in the area, not least among several artists who illustrated it.
In 1758 or 1759 (or
perhaps both years) Robert Price made a tour of North and Mid Wales. Price came
from a Welsh landowning family and had travelled to Rome and studied landscape
there. He made his Welsh tour with a botanist, Benjamin Stillingfleet. On it
Price made a number of pencil drawings. He had a particular interest in
waterfalls and drew several of the better known ones. He also made some
mountain drawings at Llanberis. These drawings were sensitive and careful and
his response was a vast improvement on that of the early topographical
draughtsmen, even if his work seems rather to lack confidence. A bolder
treatment of the North Wales landscape was to follow in a few years.
The first artists in Snowdonia, 17650-1800
Among the first to
illustrate ‘The Bard’ was Paul Sandby. His picture was exhibited in 1761. It is
now lost, but when it was shown it created quite a sensation. Sandby has made such a picture! such a bard!
such a headlong flood! such a Snowdon! such giant rocks, such desert caves! If
it is not the best picture that has been painted in this century in any country
I’ll give up all my taste to the bench of Bishops. The remarks point to a
picture in the dramatic and sublime mood. Whether Sandby actually travelled to
Wales before painting his picture is unknown; it is quite likely that he did
not feel the need to do so. That omission was however to be made good later.
About the year 1765 or
1766 Richard Wilson produced a series of six paintings of Welsh scenery, which
he intended to have published as prints. Wilson was born in 1713 in Penegoes,
near Machynlleth, where his father was Rector. He went to London in 1729 to
study painting and in his earlier years as a painter he was inclined to paint
portraits as landscapes. In his later thirties he travelled to Italy and was
there advised to change from portrait painting to landscape., which he did with
considerable success. In Rome he was deeply influenced by the ideal landscape
style of Claude Lorrain and Gaspard Dughet and painted many works of the Roman
countryside in this manner. He returned to England about 1756. In 1744/5,
before he went to Italy, Wilson had painted Caernarfon Castle. After his return
in the early1760’s Wilson twice painted Dolbadarn Castle. It must be said that
these landscapes bear very little relationship to the actual scene other than
including a round tower, a lake and a mountain; they are deeply indebted to
classical models. The scenes of the 1765/6 series were ‘Caernarvon Catle’,
‘Snowdon from Llyn Nantlle’, Cader Idris’, ‘Llyn y Cau’, ‘Pembroke Town and
Castle’, ‘Kilgaran’, and the ‘Great Bridge over the Taaffe, South Wales’. This
series, though not free from classicising influence, is much closer to nature.
Included are two striking paintings of mountains themselves, ‘Snowdon’ and
‘Llyn y Cau, Cader Idris’. The prints were eventually published in 1775. By
that time several of the views had been exhibited as paintings and were widely
noticed. Wilson’s achievement in painting Welsh mountain scenery was
pioneering. With him the paintings of Welsh mountain landscape became
aesthetically and intellectually acceptable. At first this was due to Wilson’s
use of classical Roman models. Besides this Wilson drew on historical and
political associations for his Welsh pictures. And then in time the excellence
of Wilson’s work commended itself for its own sake.
At much the same time
as Wilson was at work in Wales George Barret also travelled there. Barret was
born in Dublin and brought up in that city. He was largely self-taught as an
artist and began landscape painting in Ireland. In 1763 he came to London and
soon after that began exhibiting there. His Irish landscape work prepared him
for the wild country of North Wales, in which he came to specialise. He had
painted a view of Snowdon by 1765, and he exhibited Welsh pictures over a
number of years. Llanberis Lake was a favourite subject.
Paul Sandby’s first
recorder tour of North Wales was made in 1771, in company with the influential
landowner Sir Watkin Williams-Wynn. Sir Watkin was a member of the Cymmrodorion
and he had also bought pictures from Richard Wilson. His interest in the
scenery of North Wales had been aroused (he himself was an amateur artist) and
he took a highly competent draughtsman with him to record it. Sandby’s company
two years later in 1773 was Joseph Banks, Dr. Solander and Mr. Lightfoot. Their
interests were scientific and botanical but that did not prevent them giving free
rein to Sandby for his drawing. From Llanberis the party ascended Snowdon,
Glyder Fawr (?), Llyn y Cwn, Llyn Bochlwyd, Tryfan, Clogwyn Du’r Arddu,
Dolbadarn Castle and Carnedd Llywelyn – a remarkable mountaineering achievement
for its time. Sandby’s expeditions were issued in four series of aquatints. His
first consisting of twelve views of South Wales was produced in 1775 and
dedicated to ‘the Honourable Charles Greville and Joseph Banks Esquire’.
Another series of twelve views of North Wales was produced in 1776, dedicated
to Sir Watkin Williams-Wynn. Among other views it included ‘Harlech Castle with
Snowdon in the distance’, ‘Caernarvon Castle’, ‘Llanberis Lake’, ‘Castle
Dolbadarn with the great mountain Snowdon’, ‘Conway in the County of
Caernarvon’ and ‘Pont y Pair over the River Conway’. In the following year
Sandby published a third series of views in North and South Wales which
included a view of the Traeth Mawr, Pont Aberglaslyn, a distant view of Cadair
Idris from near Bala, Bala Lake and the Swallow Falls near Llanrwst. A fourth
series was published in 1786; of North Wales it included two views of
Caernarfon Castle, one of Llanrwst and one of Conwy. Sandby was an innovator in
reproductive technique, using aquatint to reproduce his watercolours. This it
did very effectively, accurately showing the tonal value of the original. His
prints, new both in technique and subject matter, must have attracted
considerable attention.
1777 was an
exceptionally fruitful year for artistic travellers to Snowdonia. One such was
Francis Towne from Exeter who was a watercolour artist of distinction and
sensibility. Towne travelled throughout Wales and drew Machynlleth, Cadair
Idris, Bala Lake, Pont Aberglaslyn and Llyn Cwellyn among other views in the
North. Towne had a distinctive style in drawing mountains, which he first
developed on this trip to Wales. He could lay bare the structure of the cliffs
and hills he was presenting clearly. It has been said that if he had lived in
the era of rock climbers’ guide books he would have been much in demand for his
skill in drawing the mountain face. He was to continue to develop his style in
the Alps, where his best known drawings were made, and also in the Lake
District. Another artist who rejoiced in Welsh scenery was Samuel Hieronymus
Grimm. Grimm was born and brought up in Switzerland, moved to France in his
early thirties and then after two to three years moved on to England. He
readily found patrons in England and in 1777 was employed by Henry Penruddocke
Wyndham to accompany him on a tour of Wales with the intention of providing
illustrations to a second edition of Wyndham’s book A Gentleman’s Tour through Monmouthshire and Wales. Wyndham saw to
it that they made a very comprehensive tour and Grimm made a large number of
drawings to record it. He had a very neat and precise manner of drawing. He was
especially fond of waterfalls and must have persuaded Wyndham to make several
diversions to see fine sights of this kind.
There were two further
artists active in or about 1777 – Moses Griffith and John Ingleby. They were
employed by Thomas Pennant, the author of A
Tour in Wales and The Journey to
Snowdon. Griffith was a self taught artist. At times his style is naive,
but he generally rises above that. He made a considerable number of drawings
which were engraved for Pennant’s three volumes, and those in Snowdonia include
a fine view of the Summit of Snowdon from Capel Curig, a view of Nantperis
(with Dolbadarn Castle) and a view of Dinas Emrys. In addition Pennant had a
special edition of his volumes prepared with very wide margins, in which
Griffith and Ingleby coloured the engravings and also provided a multitude of
further small watercolours, a notable achievement. It is obvious that Griffith
followed Pennant to the summit of the mountains as there is a very accurate
drawing of the Cantilever on the summit of Glyder Fach and also a drawing of
Tryfan from the same spot. Like Grimm, Griffith and Ingleby played their part
as book illustrators in making Snowdonia better known.
Another artist born
and brought up on the continent who came to work in Britain was Philippe
Jacques de Loutherbourg. He was born in Strasbourg and became a member of the
French Academy before travelling to England. De Loutherbourg was a capable
artist and was commissioned to design sets for Drury Lane. He had a liking for
the dramatic and his drawings reflect the romantic sublime.
A third artist born
and brought up on the continent visited North Wales in 1789. This was John
Baptiste Malchair. He came from Cologne and moved to England at the age of 23.
He taught both drawing and music in Oxford; there are a number of drawings of
the city. Wales called out a rather grander style; his 1789 tour included a
drawing ‘Between Aberglaslyn and Beddgelert’. Malchair returned to Wales in
1791 and 1795.
John Warwick Smith was
a great topographical artist. He visited Wales every year from 1784-1798. He
was in North Wales in 1790 and again in 1792, the latter in company with Julius
Caesar Ibbetson and the Honourable Robert Fulke Greville, an equerry at court.
During this trip they were caught in a thunderstorm at the Pass of Aberglaslyn;
both Smith and Ibbetson recorded the scene – Smith in a watercolour and
Ibbetson in oils. Ibbetson had a greater interest in people than Smith and was
less of a landscape painter. Between them they did much to record the life and
scenery of Wales in their day. John Webber’s reputation as a topographical
artist earned him employment with Captain Cook on his last voyage of discovery
in the Pacific. He made a tour of Wales in 1790 and again in 1791 accompanied
with a geologist, William Day. Webber drew several attractive views in North
Wales and exhibited four Welsh scenes at the Royal Academy in 1792. Nicholas
Pocock was chiefly a marine artist, but he was capable of drawing some very
pleasing mountain landscapes. He visited North Wales in 1795.
The renowned
caricaturist, Thomas Rowlandson, made a tour of North and South Wales in 1797,
together with his friend and pupil, Henry Wigstead. Rowlandson’s landscapes are
apt to be too mannered to be entirely convincing, skilled draughtsman though he
was. There is one entertaining drawing of ‘An Artist Travelling in Wales’ (does
it portray Wigstead?) showing the artist on horseback carrying all his
sketching gear, drenched by a downpour, surrounded by unwelcoming hills.
Rowlandson and Wigstead together provided illustrations for the book which
Wigstead wrote.
In his short life
Thomas Girtin acquired the reputation of being an outstanding artist. Like his
contemporary Turner he was still developing as an artist when he visited Wales
in 1798 (he was only 23 years old). He drew a wide variety of subjects in
Snowdonia, including rivers, waterfalls and mountains. And his technique showed
on the one hand a new freedom, and on the other a new responsiveness to what he
saw. Girtin is probably best known for his moorland scenes – bleak expanses of
bare land and sky; but it is obvious from his Welsh pictures that he had a real
feeling for the mountains there. Besides his 1798 tour Girtin probably visited
North Wales in 1800.
The two tours which J.
M. W. Turner made in 1798 and 1799 were of first importance, both for his own
development as an artist, and in the appreciation of Welsh mountain scenery. In
the mountains Turner was driven to experiment with his technique in ways which
were very effective. Such is mountain weather that an artist is driven, if he
can, to express the atmosphere of the scene he is drawing. Turner responded to
that challenge and it remained a dominating motif throughout his career. On his
tour Turner acknowledged a debt to Richard Wilson by calling at his birth place
in Penegoes; he continued his indebtedness by painting some of his pictures in
the classic style of Wilson, and before him Claude Lorraine, while he was in
Wales. Like Wilson he had a strong sense of the importance of the historical
and a number of his Welsh pictures are endued with historical associations.
There is, for instance, a mountain scene with Edward I’s army on the march,
recalling Thomas Gray’s ‘The Bard’. The most original of Turner’s Welsh
drawings was a series made in 1799 of purely mountain scenes. Unusually quite
large drawings were made on the spot, and some colour may even have been
applied (generally Turner worked in sketch books and drew finished works from
them in his studio). Turner’s response to the mountains in these drawings is
very direct and full of empathy. A central aesthetic concept for the late
eighteenth and early nineteenth century was the sublime, that which exalts, but
at the same time engenders awe or fear. Turner vigorously and successfully
strove to convey the sublimity of the mountains in his Welsh work.
By 1800 Wales was fast
becoming a Mecca for British artists and the artistic value of its scenery was
assured.
After 1800
By 1800 Girtin and
Turner had drawn inspiration from North Wales; Cotman and Cox were soon to do
so. These were artists of the first rank and there were numerous others too who
played their part in letting the mountains of North Wales become well known.
After their work there was no question but that the mountains were to be
enjoyed and admired. Gone for ever was the rubbish
of creation and its dreariness.
The way was paved for George Borrow’s judgement in Wild Wales (1862) – Perhaps
in the whole world there is no region more picturesquely beautiful than
Snowdon, a region of mountains, lakes, cataracts and groves, in which nature
shows herself in her most grand and beautiful forms.
Richard Wilson: Snowdon
from Llyn Nantlle
c.1765, National
Museums and Art Galleries on Merseyside (Walker Art Gallery)
It is a happy
circumstance that when the most gifted of painters born in Wales chose its
highest and most famous mountain as his subject he produced a masterpiece. This
picture is one of a series painted some years after Wilson’s return from Rome
when he made a tour of Wales. In it Wilson has kept some features of Italian
landscape – the warmth of the sunlight, more typical of Rome than North Wales;
the prominent trees framing the scene with sinuous trunks and carefully
rendered foliage; and the group of figures enlivening the foreground and
humanising the scene as a whole. Much of this was probably invented or imported
into the picture and the shape of the lower part of Y Garn, the mountain on the
right of the picture, has been accentuated to make it more dramatic. For those
with an eye for detail, the second lake in the picture is not an invention.
Wilson’s viewpoint was further down the valley than the present day one and
there was a further, slightly lower lake now filled in as a result of slate
quarrying. Wilson’s Snowdon is not overpowering or threatening, but faithful to
the 18th century manner, an object of peaceful and orderly
contemplation.
This very fine, but
not best known, view of Snowdon can be enjoyed from the bridge over the river
Llyfni on the B4418 road from Penygroes to Rhyd Ddu. (MR 509530).
Richard Wilson: Llyn-y-Cau, Cader Idris
c.1765, Tate Gallery,
London
When Wilson undertook
to paint Cader Idris, the best known mountain of Meirionnydd, he did not choose
to portray the summit, but instead the striking Llyn Cau, on its southerly
side, dominated by the subsidiary summit of Craig Cau. The true summit, Pen y
Gadair, is only suggested at the extreme right of the picture. The resulting
painting is a strange and powerful one. Wilson’s viewpoint, which it is
unlikely anyone had chosen before, took him high up into the wilder and more
rugged parts of the mountain. The dark blue waters of the lake with the
background of the sheer cliffs of Craig Cau (of which the height is exaggerated
considerably) make a dramatic scene. If his painting of Snowdon went a long way
from the kind of landscape he had learned to paint in Italy, this painting of
Cader Idris goes further, and the only aspect of it that obviously comes from
the south is the warm glow as of Italian sunshine. For all that the scene is an
orderly one. The whole of the foreground is invented. The great boulders
together with the long line of the horizon give stability. Wilson has striven
to show that human beings can be at home in such an environment – enjoying the
view through a telescope, painting it (a significant touch), grazing cattle (a
good deal higher than would be possible in actuality) and even contemplating
the scenery from the brink of the crater’s edge.
Wilson appears to have
painted this view from the flank of Mynydd Moel (MR 727136) on the summit ridge
of Cader Idris. Llyn Cau can be reached by taking the well defined path from
Minffordd which starts at the car park close by the junction of the B4405 with
the A487.
Francis Towne: Bridge and Waterfall near Llyn Cwellyn
c.1777, Laing Art
Gallery, Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear Museums Service
Towne’s first serious
work as an artist was carried out in Devonshire. He first made a journey to
mountainous country in 1777 when he toured Wales. The result of his tour was a
series of drawings, located by the artist, several of which are also dated,
executed in the months of June and July 1777. There is a stripping away of all
obtrusive detail and a concentration on outline and simple bold masses. Like
other eighteenth century artists Towne was quite capable of altering nature if
it suited his pictorial purpose; nevertheless his scenes remain quite
recognisable. Towne’s Welsh tour initiated a particular interest in mountains.
He had a notable feeling for their structure which he illustrated with care.
This drawing of the
‘Bridge and Waterfall near Llyn Cwellyn’ illustrates the development in style
which Towne’s Welsh tour brought about. Mynydd Mawr is given a clear outline in
the background and the structure of its cliffsis carefully drawn. The waterfall
in spate in the centre foreground has obviously attracted the artist. There are
fewer trees in the drawing than there are around the falls now, but that may
not have been unfaithful to nature. The little cottage between the road and the
stream is more likely to have been an invention.
The bridge and
waterfall drawn by Towne lie beside the A4085 from Beddgelert to Caernarfon in
the little village of Betws Garmon to the north of Llyn Cwellyn. The artost’s
viewpoint was opposite Hafodty, 100 yards downstream from the falls (MR
547564).
Paul Sandby: Haymaking at Dolwyddelan below Moel Siabod
c.1790, Fitzwilliam
Museum, Cambridge
Sandby toured North
Wales at least twice in the 1770’s. He came first in 1771 with Sir Watkin Wynn
on a tour which included Llanrwst, fairly nearby, but not Dolwyddelan. A second
tour was made by Sandby in 1773 which may well have included a trip up the
delightful valley of the Lledr to Dolwyddelan. This watercolour thus probably
stems from sketches made on the 1773 tour. If it does come from that time, it
was not until much lster, in the 1790’s, that it was worked up into this
picture.
The centre of interest
is the church surrounded by trees. It is a low barn-like building typical of
the old churches of Snowdonia. To the left there is a farm house with a barn.
Moel Siabod dominates the background above the church. In the foreground in the
hay meadow there are on the left a young man chasing a girl and on the right
women haymaking wearing typical old-fashioned Welsh hats. Sandby often took
trouble to make the human figures in his drawings interesting and he has done
so here. Underlying this drawing is the idea of Wales as a pastoral idyll.
There are a good many
more buildings in Dolwyddelan now than there appear to have been in Sandby’s
time. The old church remains and the churchyard still has its trees. Though
houses block the view which Sandby had, sketching near the bridge over the
river Lledr with his back to the river, there is a pleasant open pasture on the
opposite side of the road to the church. (MR 736523).
John ‘Warwick’ Smith: View from Snowdon
c.1795, The National
Museum of Wales, Cardiff
Smith, called
‘Warwick’ not because he came from that town, but because he enjoyed the
patronage of the Earl of Warwick, made a tour of Wales in 1792. This view from
the top of Snowdon dates from three years later. It is one of a pair, of which
the other is a view from the head of the Snowdon Ranger path looking towards
Anglesey. In it the Manai Straits are clearly visible and the whole coastline
of the island including Holyhead mountain. Closer to, there is visible the top
of Clogwyn Du’r Arddu and Moel Eilio.
This drawing, looking
in the opposite direction, is taken from Bwlch Glas, and looks over Llyn
Glaslyn and Llyn Llydaw. The topography does not seem to be entirely accurate;
if the mountain in the background is Lliwedd it is out of its proper relation
to Llyn Llydaw, while if it is Moel Siabod it is not sufficiently distant.
However to have made at that time a record of the view from the summit of
Snowdon was an achievement and the view is spectacular. The three figures and
the dog nicely convey the feel of an adventurous eighteenth century
mountaineering party seizing its opportunity on a clear sunny day.
Bwlch Glas lies between Crib y Ddysgl and the summit of Snowdon. (MR
608548).
Thomas Girtin: Near Beddgelert
c.1798, The British
Museum, London
Girtin was born in the
same year as Turner, 1775. He grew up in London and began work as a
topographical draughtsman as also did Turner. Both artists worked for Dr.
Thomas Monro, the principal physician of the Bethlem Hospital, who was himself
an amateur artist and who employed and encouraged a number of young artists.
Girtin and Turner both travelled to North Wales in 1798; Turner returned the
next year and Girtin probably in 1800. That was only two years before Girtin’s
untimely death, while Turner had many years of work and fame ahead of him. Just
how Girtin and Turner influenced each other is not clear, but it seems that Turner
had a great respect for Girtin and reckoned him the greater. Girtin made this
watercolour of the pleasant valley of the Afon Glaslyn above Beddgelert on his
first visit in 1798. Turner made a very similar one in the same valley the next
year. Girtin shows a new boldness and freedom and a new emotional
expressiveness in his treatment of watercolour, going well beyond the tinted
drawings typical of landscapists before him and of his own earlier years.
Girtin has used the
freedom common to 18th century artists in depicting this landscape,
so that the little hillock on which Dinas Emrys stands has disappeared and
certain other features are moved. But the main lineaments of the scene are
clear enough, and can be well seen by travelling some ¼ mile from the centre of
the village of Beddgelert along the A498 towards Nant Gwynant, and then
proceeding across the bridge over the river Glaslyn and about 150 yards along
the by-road up a slight incline. (MR 594484).
Joseph Mallord William Turner: Dolbadarn Castle
c.1798-9, The Turner
Collection, Tate Gallery, London
Turner made his first
tour in Wales in 1792, and he revisited the country four times in the next
eight years. His first visit to North Wales was in 1798, when he was still only
23. What he saw and drew on these tours was formative for him. A new rangeof
subjects, particularly the montains, evoked new responses and new styles of
working. Though this is no more than a colour study it shows considerable
inventiveness on Turner’s part. He has experimented with his colour in such a
way as to reveal the brush marks on the rocks beneath the castle and the ground
below and his stopping out technique has produced a dramatic sky which merges
into the mountains. Turner’s concern here for atmosphere, weather and light is
obvious, and is the making of the picture – it was a concern which was to
remain dominant throughout his life. Turner has reacted to a scene already much
painted with a work in which the turbulence of the atmosphere against the
unmoving solidity of the castle is all.
The view of Dolbadarn
Castle and Snowdon, which has been repeatedly painted, is not helped at the
present time by a recently constructed car park and Llanberis sewage works.
However one may find vantage points from which these are not too obtrusive, and
there are very pleasing views across Llyn Padarn to Dolbadarn Castle and
Snowdon from the Llyn Padarn Country Park. (MR 584606).
Joseph Mallord William
Turner: Llanberis Lake and Dolbadarn Castle
c.1799-1800, The
Turner Collection, Tate Gallery, London
The view of Dolbadarn
Castle across Llyn Padarn come from Turner’s second tour of North Wales in
1799. It is one of a numbered series of watercolour studies which were not
intended for exhibition but to which Turner nonetheless attached considerable
importance. It forms a considerable contrast with the previous watercolour,
where all was cloudy turbulence here is all unmoved calm. That contrast in its
turn reflects the sharp changes of character of the mountain scene as the time
of day and the weather alter. The castle too has shrunk to an interesting
feature in the landscape, no longer its key. The view is now dominated by the
mountains and the lake themselves. Turner has mastered another mood in the
mountains.
Joseph Mallord William Turner: Dolbadern Castle
c.1799-1800, Royal
Academy of Arts, London
Yet another
interpretation of the theme of Dolbadarn Castle, and the least near reality. In
it Turner has freely combined the castle, mountains and rocks, a waterfall, a
rock girt pool and some figures on a rock by its edge, so that as a whole the
scene is not recognisable. The castle itself is elevated and thrown into high
relief by the light behind it and clearly forms the dramatic and pictorial
centre of the painting. When this oil painting was exhibited at the Royal
Academy in 1800, Turner provided some lines of verse to accompany it, possibly
of his own writing:
How awful is the silence of the waste
Where nature lifts her
mountains to the sky.
Majestic solitude,
behold the tower
Where hopeless OWEN
long imprisoned, pin’d,
And wrung his hands
for liberty, in vain.
Turner has a marked
sympathy towards the historical associations of the subjects of his works, and
in this way he refers to the imprisonment of Owain Goch, the brother of Llewelyn
the Great, who was rash enough to challenge his brother’s inheritance and was
incarcerated for twenty years until he was freed by Edward 1’s conquest of
Wales. The verse points up the mood of the painting, contrasting the pathos of
the prisoner long deprived of liberty with the magnificent, but quite unmoved,
mountain peaks. It was this painting that Turner presented to the Royal Academy
as his Diploma work on being elected as Academician in 1802, thereby
acknowledging his debt to the Welsh landscape in reaching this coveted honour.
John Crome: Slate Quarries
c.1804, Tate Gallery,
London
The visitor to
Snowdonia is apt to regard the slate quarries and slate tips as blots on an
otherwise lovely landscape. Nevertheless quarries and mines have for many years
been typical of the region; several artists have been drawn to them and found
in them subjects for their work. The scale of the great terraces on which the
quarrymen work or have worked is striking and there are in the quarries sheer
cliffs dropping for hundreds of feet. This picture by the Norwich artist John
Crome captures something of that scale, with the two diminutive figures in the
foreground contrasting with the depth of the valley and the height of the
mountains into which the slate quarries have been worked. Precisely where Crome
painted this picture is uncertain, although it is known that he was in the
slate quarrying region of North Wales in 1804. With sombre palette he has
painted a mountain scene strongly evocative of the landscape of Snowdonia.
There are two slate
quarries open to the public in Blaenau Ffestiniog – Llechwedd and Gloddfa Ganol
– where different aspects of the slate mining industry can be seen. There is
also the North Wales Quarrying Museum in Llanberis together with the old
workings in Llyn Padarn Country Park. The largest working slate quarry is in
Bethesda.
John Sell Cotman: Dolgelly
c.1805, Fitzwilliam
Museum, Cambridge
John Sell Cotman came
from Norwich, and while he later came to have an affection for the gentler landscape
of his native county, the hills and valleys of Wales seem to have awakened his
artistic individuality. He sketched in Dolgellau in 1800, when he was only 18,
and he was probably there again in 1802. The scenes he saw and drew must have
made a deep impression on him, for he returned to them as subjects for his
pictures for more than thirty years, even though ne never revisited Wales.
This watercolour of
Dolgellau will have been worked up in his studio from his sketches a few years
after he made them. In keeping with the convention of his time Cotman has left
the highlights of his picture – the river and parts of the sky – without any
pigment. The contrasting colours of the river as it winds towards the sea and
the varying tones of the mountainsides give a convincing sense of depth and
distance. Cotman often liked to include arches in his pictures and the bridge
in this one, though it is but a detail, has a pleasing series of such forms
outlined against the river. Cotman has used his watercolour in a masterly way
to portray the light of a typical British landscape under the sunshine and
cloud with the atmosphere cleared after rain.
This view of Dolgellau
can be seen from the by-road from the Cross Foxes Hotel to Dolgellau about a
quarter of a mile west of the lane to Groes-lwyd. (MR 743176).
John Varley: Snowdon from Capel Curig
c.1805-10, Victoria
and Albert Museum, London
John Varley was born
in Hackney, London, three years after Girtin and Turner. His natural
inclination was to be an artist, but his father forbad it and he was
apprenticed to a silversmith. However his father died when he was aged 13, and
his mother allowed him to follow his bent. He was employed briefly by a
portrait painter and then by an art teacher. In exchange for running errands
and doing odd jobs he was allowed to join the other pupils and copy old master
prints. Varley made his first visit to Wales in 1798 or 1799 with another
landscape painter, George Arnald. He may have made a further visit in 1800, and
he certainly did in 1802, with his brother Cornelius. John Varley was very much
a master of watercolour – he hardly ever worked in oils. He was instrumental in
the founding of the Old Water Colour Society and exhibited with them regularly
from 1805 until he died.
This view of Snowdon
from Capel Curig had already become popular. Moses Griffith drew it to
illustrate Pennant’s Journey to Snowdon. So, following him, did Phillippe
Jaques de Loutherbourg and Richard Colt Hoare. The foreground and the middle
ground have been treated by Varley with considerable freedom, and the height of
the mountains has been accentuated. In spite of its unfinished state – the
trees are incomplete, the figures are only sketched in and the lake has no
colour – it is an attractive work with its broad flat washes of colour.
This is probably the
most well known view of Snowdon, and can be seen from the Pinnacles at Capel
Curig. From the field beside the church it is possible to walk up to the rocky
outcrop. (MR 724582).
John Sell Cotman: Road to Capel Curig, North Wales
c.1806, Victoria and
Albert Museum, London
Although the title ought to make the location
clear, it is not immediately obvious where Cotman drew this scene. It cannot be
on the road to Capel Curig from Betws y Coed, and it seems most likely that the
view is of the Ogwen Falls, with Tryfan behind. On stylistic grounds the
watercolour is to be dated some years after his Welsh travels and he was
capable of allowing himself a good deal of licence in working up his sketches.
The road rom Bangor to Capel Curing does indeed pass this spot.
Cotman has drawn his
mountain scene in the classic manner, with bold simple outlines and clearly
defined masses. The ridge, of
course, dominates the scene, with Cotman’s favourite arches; the bridge parapet
cuts straight across the picture. The dark mass of the mountain on the right
contrasts with the light stonework of the bridge and the two horses beginning
to cross it. The highlight of the lower part of the picture is the falls
flowing away to the right, while the woman with her child provides a further
human touch against the rocks on the left. The graduation of colours of the
mountains in the background on the left gives a sense of depth and distance as
in ‘Dolgelly’.
From the bridge taking
the A5 over the Afon Ogwen at the end of Llyn Ogwen, walk down the road for a
few yards to scramble down the rocky bank by the Rhaeadr Ogwen. Looking
upstream it is possible to see the remains of the old Packhorse Bridge beneath
the arch of the present bridge. Tryfan dominates the scene behind. (MR 649605).
John Varley: Landscape
with Harlech Castle and Snowdon in the background
c.1815-20, Victoria
and Albert Museum, London
Varley’s last visit to
Wales was in 1802 but he continued to make much use of his Welsh subjects for
the rest of his life. At times he did so rather repetitiously. Harlech Castle
was exhibited by him in 23 versions between 1803 and 1840. Varley used to tell
his pupils that Nature wants cooking,
and he was certainly not afraid to do the cooking himself. This ‘Landscape with
Harlech Castle and Snowdon in the background’ has as its basis the magnificent
panorama of Snowdonia from Morfa Harlech which is terminated by Harlech Castle
on the right. Varley has used this basis on which to construct a pastoral scene
in the tradition of Claude Lorraine with prominent trees, two of which neatly
frame Snowdon itself, cattle, a stream and peasants. None of this has any basis
in reality. But as Varley has drawn it, it only serves to accentuate the
grandeur of this North Wales scene.
The view of Snowdonia
with Harlech in the foreground can be seen from the sand dunes of Morfa Harlech
almost at the extreme south end of the beach. (MR 574305).
Anthony Vandyke Copley
Fielding:
Digging peat at Traeth Mawr, on the Caernarvon and Merioneth border
c.1820, The National
Library of Wales, Aberystwyth
In the early years of
the nineteenth century a great causeway was constructed across the Traeth Mawr
by William Maddocks, a visionary planner and initiator of public works of improvement.
After many adventures, seeming success followed by disaster, the causeway was
completed about 1813. It meant that a large tract of fertile land, previously
covered by the sea, was reclaimed for agricultural use. From the causeway there
is a magnificent view looking northwards. There can be seen Moel Ddu and Moel
Hebog, Snowdon, and to the east Cnicht, Moelwyn Mawr and Moelwyn Bach. It was
not long after the reclamation of the Traeth Mawr that Fielding came to it to
make his own picture of the view.
Fielding had had his
first lessons in drawing from his father, who was also an artist. He first
toured Wales in 1808 when he was 21. He then became a pupil of John Varley and
one of the Monro circle. He made further tours in England and Wales. He taught drawing
and was very popular as a drawing master. Ruskin praised him for his seascapes.
Fielding was more than
a competent artist and this drawing of a particularly fine view is striking.
Fielding actually drew
his view of Snowdon from the Traeth Mawr somewhat inland from Maddock’s
causeway. The viewpoint appears to have been in Llanfrothen on the road to
Prenteg opposite St. Catherine’s Church. (MR 612417).
Joseph Mallord William Turner: Caernarvon Castle
c.1833-4, The British
Museum, London
Caernarfon Castle had
been a very popular subject for artists visiting North Wales from the earliest
days and Turner himself drew several versions of it. Many of these earlier
renderings of Caernarfon Castle were formal and classical. Turner also treated
the subject in this style. This watercolour is rather different. The mood of
the castle on a dark day can be lowering or threatening, and its historical
association with the subjugation of Wales by Edward I is also violent and
threatening. In this picture, however, the castle is ethereal, floating in the
glory of the golden evening sunset. This lightness of mood is strengthened by
the women bathing in the warmth of a summer evening in the foreground of the
picture, figures which take up so much of the interest of the composition.
Though in some respects a development of the classical tradition there is a
freedom in treatment of colour, light and atmosphere which is fresh. The effect
is delightful.
This view of
Caernarfon Castle from the bank of the Afon Seiont may be seen by starting at
the Castle itself and walking along Saint Helen’s Road, which leads to the
properties on the waterfront, to a place where there is a gap and the quayside
itself can be reached. Sailing vessels will most likely be in sight on the
banks of the river, but it is less likely that anyone will be taking a plunge
in its waters. (MR 482623).
Joseph Mallord William Turner: Crickieth Castle
c.1835-6, The British
Museum, London
This watercolour,
together with the previous one of Caernarfon Castle, was part of a long series
of topographical works prepared by Turner for engraving under the title Picturesque Views in England and Wales.
Turner had not been to Wales for thirty years and he must have drawn upon
sketches made as a young man when he was there in 1798. In addition to his
other talents he had an extraordinary visual memory. A few lines sketched in a
notebook were enough to recall a scene fully. Cricieth Castle was not in origin
one of Edward I’s constructions, although he made use of it. It was older, like
Dolbadarn Castle, a fortification of one of Wales’ native princes. However
Turner does not draw on this historical association to humanise his picture,
but instead shows an incident on the foreshore. A ship has been wrecked in a
storm at sea (a favourite theme for Turner, drawing on his own experience as a
traveller), and customs officers are inspecting the goods which have been
salvaged. The incident only accentuates the castle’s sea girt position and its
stability in the face of all the assaults of the storm and the sea.
Cricieth Castle stands
out well when seen from the beach on the eastern side of Cricieth. (MR 507380).
Samuel Palmer: The Waterfalls, Pistyll Mawddach
c.1835-6, Tate
Gallery, London
Samuel Palmer was a
visionary painter and a man of deep religious faith. As a young man he, with a
group of like minded friends, spent much time in the company of William Blake,
himself another visionary painter and a great poet. Palmer was deeply
influenced by him. Palmer’s greatest paintings were made in response to the
English countryside in the Darenth valley in Kent. The painting of the Pistyll
Mawddach deserves to rank with them. Of it Samuel Palmer’s son said that it
contained his father’s whole heart.
There are two
waterfalls in close proximity where the Afon Mawddach is joined by the Afon
Cain – Pistyll Mawddach, more generally known as Rhaeadr Mawddach, and Pistyll
Cain. They are a few miles north of Dolgellau, and to reach them leave the A470
to Trawsfynydd turning east at the northern delimit signs for Ganllwyd over the
Afon Eden and keeping right until a car park is shortly reached. From the car
park follow the track over the Mawddach and for about two miles along its left
bank on the so called Gold Road. Leave this track turning left into the valley
when a small stone bridge over the Mawddach comes into view. Cross the bridge
and turn left downstream. Both waterfalls can be seen. (MR 735275). It is
possible to walk back to the car park on the right bank of the Afon Mawddach.
David Cox: Pont y Pair
c.1836, Fitzwilliam
Museum, Cambridge
Cox took lessons with
John Varley, an established watercolourist, and himself began to draw and to
teach. In 1805 Cox made his first visit to Wales which was to be the first of
very many. In later life he made annual journeys to Betws y Coed, where he
stayed at the Royal Oak Hotel. A large bedroom was always reserved for him
there and on wet days he would spread out his work to dry on the spare bed. An
inn sign for the Royal Oak showing the oak tree concealing Charles II and the
Parliamentarian soldiers searching for him was painted by Cox and is still
preserved in the hotel. Cox was popular in the village and children would vie
with each other for the privilege of carrying his equipment. Resulting from his
trips to Wales is a magnificent body of watercolors of the village of Betws y
Coed, its surroundings and the mountains of Snowdonia.
This picture was made
from the bank of the Afon Llugwy opposite the Royal Oak Hotel, looking upstream
200 yards to Pont y Pair. By the riverside there are now trees obscuring the
openness of the view, and one must now look upstream from the bridge for a
broader view of the river.
Cox loved Wales – a
letter written in 1846 refers to ‘another visit to dear Wales’ – but he would
have hated Betws y Coed as it is today. Though he supported a Liberal in his
younger days at Hereford, he was at heart a Tory – of his age, of course – who
believed in the social orders. He drew the peasantry securely in their place,
as in this picture. It is possible that he depicted Betws y Coed as more rural
than it actually was, but the contrast nonetheless is striking.
The Royal Oak Hotel is
on the A5 as it runs through Betws y Coed, near the church. (MR 793566).
David Cox: Rhaiadr Cwm
c.1836, The British
Museum, London
Like Turner’s
‘Caernarvon Castle’ and ‘Crickieth Castle’, Cox’s ‘Pont y Pair’ and ‘Rhaiadr
Cwm’ were prepared for engraving. The book to be illustrated was Thomas
Roscoe’s Wanderings and Excursions in
North Wales. Cox prepared about half the drawings. It was so successful
that a companion volume for South Wales was published the following year, and
Cox contributed to that also.
In his Modern
Painters, John Ruskin wrote: … with equal
gratitude I look to the drawings of David Cox, which in spite of their loose
and seemingly careless execution, are not less serious in their meaning, nor
less important in their truth … The recollection of this will keep us from
being offended with the loose and blotted handling of David Cox. There is no
other means by which his object could be attained; the looseness, coolness and
moisture of his herbage, the rustling crumpled freshness of his broad leaved
weeds, the play of pleasant light across his deep heathered moor or plashing
sand, the melting of fragments of white mist into the dropping blue above; all
this has not fully been recorded except by him.
It is a deserved
tribute to one who loved the countryside; this watercolour is a fitting example
of his love and skill.
Rhaeadr y Cwm lies
close to the B4391 from Ffestiniog to Bala, about two miles east of Ffestiniog.
There is a car park and at a short distance a viewpoint. (MR 737418).
Ebenezer Newman Downard: A Mountain Path at Capel Curig
c.1860, Tate Gallery,
London
Downard specialised in
landscape and scenes of everyday life, like this painting at Capel Curig. He
was influenced by the Pre-Raphaelite Movement, and especially by the example of
W. Holman Hunt. One of the Pre-Raphaelite’s guiding rules was to study directly
from nature, often carried out with great attention to detail. That is
reflected here in the care with which rocks, flowers, trees and sheep are
painted. The Pre-Raphaelites also tended to use bright colours, at times
verging on the lurid. Downard has used bright colours – violet for the rocks of
the mountain, purple for the foxgloves, vivid green for the vegetation on the
rocks and orange for the exposed soil of the path; yet they are not colours
strange to nature and the colour of the path, for instance, may reflect an iron
rich soil. Then the Pre-Raphaelites often chose subjects with a very direct
appeal (compare, for example, Ford Madox Brown’s ‘Pretty Baa Lambs’). This
picture shares something of that appeal with the simple but pretty farm girl
followed by a lamb. It does too faithfully represent the countryside near Capel
Curig and is a work of considerable charm.
There is scenery like
this looking east on the little knoll above Plas y Brenin about half a mile
west of Capel Curig. (MR 716579).
Walter Crane: Llyn Elsie near Bettws y Coed
c.1871, Victoria and
Albert Museum, London
Crane was best known
as a book illustrator, especially of children’s books, in which work he
preceded Kate Greenaway and Randolph Caldecote. He was in fact a very versatile
artist and designer with a wide range of achievement. This included landscapes
which at one period were very important to him. Crane’s best work was
decorative and imaginative and something of that flavour is found in this
picture, particularly in his treatment of the animals and from boyhood liked to
draw them. As an apprentice he got a student season ticket to the London Zoo.
He accumulated sheaves of animal sketches which he used later as an
illustrator. His passionate love for animals extended to having them in his
home – a jerboa, a golden pheasant, an alligator, a marmoset, an owl, a rabbit,
guinea pigs, cats and dogs. He would work with a squirrel perched on his
shoulder. His fondness for animals is revealed in this picture in the cattle
and wading birds (perhaps godwits), which enliven the environment of Llyn Elsi.
Llyn Elsi is still a
rather wild and deserted spot, the major change being the afforestation. This
watercolour was made on the south east bank of the lake looking over it towards
the mountains of the Carneddau range. It can be reached by proceeding slightly
more than a quarter of a mile up the A5 from Pont y Pair in Betws y Coed, and
then taking a path to the left uphill to Hafod-las. From there the path
continues upwards to Llyn Elsi. It is possible to walk round the lake to the
south end by the east side. (MR 783551).
James William Walker: The Old Road to Bangor, Capel Curig
c.1880, Norfolk
Museums Service (Norwich Castle Museum)
Walker was a minor
member of the Norwich School of artists, of which the great names were John
Crome the elder and John Sell Cotman. Walker trained at the Norwich School of
Design. The Norwich painters had a special affection for the landscape of the
countryside, not least of Norfolk, though other parts of Britain also interested
them. Walker eventually settled in Southport and from there made excursions for
drawing around the North Country, including the Lake District, to North and
South Wales, and to Norfolk, among other places.
This drawing of ‘The
Old Road to Bangor, Capel Curig’, is easily identifiable with the mass of Gallt
yr Ogof dominating the scene and Pen yr Ole Wen on the right. On the left the
summit of Snowdon just appears over the flank of Gallt yr Ogof, but this is
imaginary and Walker must have included it to locate the scene. Walker has
drawn the mountains with a spring mantle of snow and caught the clear light
that sunshine on snow brings. His pleasure in things rural is shown by the care
with which the grassy track on the mountainside, the Old Road, is represented.
From the Post Office
in Capel Curig take the track leading over the river Llugwy and on up the right
bank past Gelli. Walker’s scene comes into view after about half a mile. (MR
717589).
James Dickson Innes: Arenig
c.1910, The National
Museum of Wales, Cardiff
It cannot be common
for an artist to enter into an intense emotional relationship with a mountain,
but J. D. Innes certainly did with Arenig. Innes was a Welshman, born in
Llanelli in 1887. He first visited North Wales to paint in 1910. Innes had by
this time been diagnosed as suffering from tuberculosis, but it did not stop
him travelling rough. It was late in 1910 that Innes arrived one night at an
isolated inn at Rhyd-y-Fen. The next morning he saw Arenig Fawr rising above
him, and was captivated by it.
In the early spring of
1911 he returned to Arenig. By this time Innes had formed a friendship with
Augustus John. Innes preceded John to Arenig and when John arrived Innes met
him. John later wrote: Our meeting at
Arenig was cordial, and yet I seemed to detect a certain reserve on his part;
he was experiencing, I fancy, the scruples of a lover on introducing a friend
to his best girl – in this case the mountain before us which he regarded, with
good reason, as his spiritual property. The two artists rented a cottage at
Nant Ddu, a mile or so to the west, and worked from there. Innes’ activity,
John said, was prodigious; he rarely returned after a day’s work without having
completed two paintings. He would walk for long distances over the moors to
find the right view and the right light.
John wrote of Innes: His passionate love of Wales was the supreme
mainspring of his art and though he worked much in the South of France Mynydd
Arenig remained his sacred mountain and the slopes of Migneint his spiritual
home.
Arenig Fawr lies near
the A4212 from Bala to Trawsfynydd and is close to Llyn Tryweryn. There is a
good view of it from that road half a mile to the east of the lake. (MR
797384).
Augustus Edwin John: Llyn Tryweryn
c.1912, Tate Gallery, London
John was a native of
Wales; he was born and brought up in Tenby. He trained as an artist at the
Slade School in London, where he was acclaimed as a brilliant student. After
the Slade he led a somewhat rootless and restless existence in spite of marriage
and the birth of six sons, to his wife Ida and to Dorelia, who effectively
became his wife when Ida died after the birth of his youngest boy. In 1910 his
travels took John to Provence which greatly attracted him. He had made his name
with figure compositions but Provence led him on to landscape. It was the next
year that James Dickson Innes, whom he had first met when Innes was a student
at the Slade, persuaded John to join him in North Wales. Innes had already
become deeply attached to the countryside around Arenig, and John was to be
impressed too. This is the most wonderful
place I’ve seen, he wrote to Dorelia …
the air is superb and the mountains wonderful. The two artists worked very
productively throughout the summer. They rented a cottage at Nant Ddu which
became one of John’s many bases over the next years until Innes became too ill
to paint any more.
Some of John’s finest
works were painted at Nant Ddu. There are some lovely portraits in a mountain
setting (e.g. The Red Feather, The Orange Apron). He also painted a number of
pure landscapes including this one of Llyn Tryweryn, about a mile from the
cottage. In the distance can be seen the summit of Rhinog Fawr.
Llyn Tryweryn lies on the A4212 five miles east of Trawsfynydd. (MR
789386).
Stanley Spencer: Snowdon from Llanfrothen
c.1938, The National
Museum of Wales, Cardiff
Stanley Spencer was an
original genius as a painter and many of his works were of great power,
particularly those on religious themes. But he was also decidedly eccentric. From
choice he lived a very Spartan existence and never took a holiday. Short in
stature, he could be seen pushing a pram around carrying his painting materials
and is said to have taken it with him when he visited Wales. He married his
first wife Hilda in 1925. About five years later he conceived the scheme of
compiling a vast autobiography, which actually took the form of love letters to
his wife. His divorce in 1936 made no difference to the flow, nor did her death
in 1950. Everything went in – imaginings, fantasies, confessions, musing on the
divine, philosophical speculations, erotica (and he was at times obsessed with
sexuality), opinions on people, music, art – nothing too trivial. Yet for all
his oddness he was good company – he loved people, he loved talking, he had a
sense of humour, he was valued by his friends, and he had very few enemies.
This landscape was
painted in September 1938. His first wife Hilda, had gone on holiday with her
mother to stay at a house near Snowdon, and though by then divorced, Spencer
went to stay with them. Landscapes were his staple. He could produce excellent
works very rapidly, one every week or ten days. They were popular and sold
well. But he came to loathe them. In later life he was sitting one day in a
room with a view of unspoilt country. He asked: Please may I turn my back on the window? Landscape still makes me feel
quite ill. In this picture the heights of Snowdon are kept very much at a
distance in order to emphasize the lushness of Llanfrothen.
This view is taken
from the by-road that leads from Garreg, Llanfrothen to Croesor, leaving Plas
Brondanw on the left and proceeding past a very small cemetery on the right
before reaching the head of the footpath on the left at Tan-lan. (MR 619427).
John Piper: Roman Amphitheatre of Tomen y Mur, near Ffestiniog
c.1943, Birmingham
City Council Museum and Art Gallery
Piper’s work as a war
artist took him to Wales in 1943 and it evoked this dramatic landscape. It is
of the Roman amphitheatre at Tomen y Mur, near Ffestiniog. Though it is not a
mountain top, Tomen y Mur is an airy spot commanding views of the ladscape in
several directions. The remains of the amphitheatre, a low oval embankment some
4’ high, can be seen with a farm building behind and a medieval motte on the
site of the main Roman camp. In the distance all is threatening cloud. The
subject appealed to Piper with its Roman and medieval historical connections,
and the picture obviously stands itself in the romantic tradition, so that
Piper, along with Graham Sutherland, Paul Nash, Henry Moore and others have
been dubbed Neo-Romantics. Piper defined his mood and understanding in North
Wales from the earliest landscapes he drew there.
The amphitheatre of
Tomen y Mur is reached by proceeding south for a quarter of a mile from the
junction of the A470 and the A487 two miles south of Ffestiniog, then turning
left under the railway bridge and up the side road until a cattle grid is
reached. The remains of the small amphitheatre are immediately forward to the
right. A fine view is gained from the mound of Tomen y Mur 300 yards to the
south west. (MR 708389).
Kenneth Rowntree:
School at Upper Corris with Cader Idris, Merioneth
c.1948, The National
Library of Wales, Aberystwyth
In 1939 the young
publishing house of Penguin Books began to publish a special series entitled King Penguins, books with a short text
and numerous colour plates. They were hardbacked rather than paperbacked and
they were produced and illustrated with great care for their appearance. They
rightly received acclaim. Among the series was one entitled A Prospect of Wales, a collection of
watercolours by Kenneth Rowntree, with an essay by Gwyn Jones. Rowntree had
been to Wales to draw before and it seems that the landscape of Wales attracted
him. This picture, of the school at Upper Corris, with Cadair Idris in the
background, is one of that collection. In it Rowntree combines strong forms
(the school itself, the mountains and the pleasingly obtrusive slate fence)
with subtle colouring – a range of greys relieved by such details as the
lichens on the sltes and the grasses in the meadow.
Upper Corris School is
now a mountain centre. The building has lost much of its Victorian decoration,
but is essentially the same, andeven the slate fence remains. It stands on the
A487 from Dolgellau to Machynlleth in the village of Corris Uchaf. (MR 739092).
John Piper: Ffynnon Llugwy
c.1949, The British
Counci
Piper continued to
visit Snowdonia after the war and he rented a cottage in Nant ffrancon in 1949
and subsequent years. Though Piper is not a native of Wales his wife Myfanwy
Evans is Welsh and so many have been their sojourns in Wales that he has come
to be counted an honorary Welshman. Piper’s visits were often made in winter.
While he was in Wales Piper drew a long series of landscapes of the mountains
of Snowdonia. Unlike many studies of the mountains they are unrelieved by human
figires. That does not mean that Piper regards the interaction between the
landscape and the beholder as a matter of indifference. Far from it. Piper
record in a private note his sensations when he was near the summit of the
Glyders: Mist blowing across all day;
visibility about 15-20 yards only; curious sensation in prescence of gigantic
boulders, giant coffin slabs, pale trunk-shaped rocks, disappearing into grey
invisibility even at close range. The affectionate nature of the mountain not
changed by the acute loneliness and closed-in feeling induced by the mist; but
an atmosphere of an affectionate cemetery.
Piper is well aware of
the tradition of the sublime, that which exalts, but yet may arouse anxiety or
fear. His own pictures ares ombre, yet the scale of their subjects is such as
to exalt. In him the tradition of landscape painting in Britain is renewed and
developed evoking a new response to the desolate yet grandiose scenery of the
mountains of Snowdonia.
Ffynnon Llugwy lies on
the north side of the Ogwen Valley underneath Carnedd Llywelyn. It can be
reached by following the mountain road which begins at the A5 a few hundred
yards from Helyg. (MR 694625).
Kyffin Williams: Snowdon from Ty Obri
c.1980, The National
library of Wales, Aberystwyth
Kyffin Williams is a
Welshman, a native of North Wales, and lives and works at Llanfairpwllgwyngyll
in Anglesey. Williams has an obvious affinity for the wilder parts of North
wales and has painted them in their more sombre aspects. He has written: So many English artists dash towards the
Mediterranean as soon as the sun begins to shine in summer. This yearly
migration has always baffled me since I am sure a painter can paint his own
land better than anywhere else. I have been extraordinarily lucky to have been
born and reared in such a lovely landscape among people with whom I have so
great an affinity. This world and its faces I have painted for nearly thirty
years and i can really see no point in doing anything else.
In this painting the
broad prospect of the snowcapped peaks of the Snowdon massif in the bright
sunshine is full of grandeur. If the pastoral countryside appears benign it is
certainly not that Williams is unaware of the hardness which Welsh farmers have
to face in their lives. But here the farmers are clearly at ease with the land.
From Porthmadog leave
the A487 road to Penrhyndeudraeth on the left about half a mile beyond
Minffordd. Proceed under a narrow bridge carrying the Festiniog Railway. Take
the next turn to the right (cul de sac) and proceed until Ty Obry is reached at
a sharp turn to the left. The viewpoint will have been from the road leading to
the farm. (MR 604395).
John Bogle, Y Lolfa, Hydref 1993 (ail argraffiad)
Argraffiad cyntaf: Hydref 1990 / First impression: October 1990
Ailargraffiad cyntaf: Hydref 1993 / Second impression: October 1993
© Y llyfr a’r testun / The book and text: Y Lolfa cyf; 1990
Perthyn hawlfraint y lluniau i’r orielau a nodwyd
The copyright of the pictures belongs to the galleries noted
For Elizabeth, Dan, Katharine and Thomas
I am grateful to the galleries, museums and owners acknowledged for permission to reproduce the works illustrated, and in addition to the Courtauld Institute of Art for permission to reproduce Walter Cranes Llyn Elsie and Augustus John Llyn Tryweryn; also to John Piper, Kenneth Rowntree and Kyffin Williams for their kind permission to reproduce their work.
