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Creator:
Richard Wilson, 1713/4–1782
Title:

View near Wynnstay, the Seat of Sir Watkin Williams-Wynn, fourth Bt.

Former Title(s):

View near Wynnstay, the Seat of Sir Watkin Williams-Wynn, BT. [1985, Cormack, YCBA Concise Catalogue]

View near Wynnstay, Seat of Sir Watkin Williams-Wynn

A View near Wynnstay with Dinas Bran in the distance

View near Winnstay, Llangollan 1770

A view near Winstay, the seat of Sir Watkin Williams Wynn, Bart. [1771, Royal Academy of Arts, London, exhibition catalogue]

Date:
1770 to 1771
Medium:
Oil on canvas
Dimensions:
71 x 96 3/8 inches (180.3 x 244.8 cm)
Inscription(s)/Marks/Lettering:

Label on verso, center: “Thos. Agnew & Sons Ltd. | [logo] No 34221 | [...] | London, | 43, Old Bond Street. | Piccadilly, W.”; upper left: “Royal Academy of Arts | Exhibition of British Art, [...] | Name of Artist Wilson | Title of Work View Near Wynnstay | [...]”; upper left: “[...] | Royal Academy Exhibition of the Works of the Old Masters, 1888 | Name of Artist Wilson | Title of Work [...] V[...] of Llangollen | Name and Address of [...] Sir Watkin Williams Wynn | Wynnstay - Ruabon”

Credit Line:
Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection
Copyright Status:
Public Domain
Accession Number:
B1976.7.84
Classification:
Paintings
Collection:
Paintings and Sculpture
Link to Frame:
B1976.7.84FR
Subject Terms:
basket | boulder | castle | dog (animal) | fort | fortress | greyhound | hills | horse (animal) | landscape | leisure | men | river | tree | valley | woman
Associated Places:
Cymru | Dee | Denbighshire | Europe | Machynlleth | Powys | Ruabon | United Kingdom | Wales
Access:
Not on view
Note: To make an appointment to see this work, please contact the Paintings and Sculpture department at ycba.paintings@yale.edu. Please visit the Paintings and Sculpture collections page on our website for more details.
Link:
https://collections.britishart.yale.edu/catalog/tms:313
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Painted at the height of Richard Wilson’s career as a landscape painter, just before his precipitous decline into ill health and poverty, this view in Wales is one of a pair (its companion piece is shown opposite) that hung in the London home of Sir Watkin Williams-Wynn. Williams-Wynn was one of the richest men in Britain, and this would have been perhaps the most prestigious commission of Wilson’s life. As Welshmen, both Wilson and his patron would have found special nationalistic significance in the depiction of the ancient Welsh fortress of Dinas Bran.
Gallery label for installation of YCBA collection, 2016


This painting, together with Dinas Bran from Llangollen (B1976.7.83) was commissioned to celebrate Sir Watkin Williams-Wynn’s (1749–1789) coming of age in 1769. The young baronet paid Wilson £50 on account for both pictures in February 1770, and soon afterward they hung prominently in his grand new London house, 20 St. James’s Square, built by Robert Adam between 1771 and 1774. Wilson’s view was taken from a position on a rock above a cliff at Nant y Belan, at the edge of Wynnstay Park. The view is now obscured, but in the eighteenth century it afforded this dramatic scene westward along the Dee valley to Dinas Brân at Llangollen. What is now called “New Bridge” can be seen on the river in the middle ground, while further away in the distance is probably the mansion of Trefor Hall, the neighboring estate to Wynnstay. Behind Dinas Brân, the mountains of the northeastern range of Snowdonia can be seen. Glowing light from the west shows that the time is evening, complementing Wilson's companion painting of Dinas Brân, in which light comes from the east. The painting was said to have been executed in a tent on the spot, though this seems unlikely on account of its size.

Gallery label for Richard Wilson and the Transformation of European Landscape Painting (Yale Center for British Art, 2014-03-06 - 2014-06-01)


This is one of a pair of views commissioned by the young Sir Watkin Williams-Wynn, one of the richest men in Britain, shortly after completing his Grand Tour. The pendant view, taken nearer and from the other side of the ancient Welsh fortress of Dinas Bran, hangs at the other end of this room. Both represent scenes in the valley of the river Dee in Wales, near Sir Watkin's country estate, Wynnstay. They hung in his London residence, 20 St. James's Square, which was built for him in the early 1770s by the great architect Robert Adam. In London the paintings served as a proud reminder to his many dinner guests of both the antiquity of Sir Watkin's Welsh family and the ancestral connection between the Wynns and the ancient kings of Britain, of which he was very proud.

\Gallery label for installation of YCBA collection, 2005

Richard Wilson and the Transformation of European Landscape Painting (National Museum Wales, 2014-07-05 - 2014-10-26) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition] [Exhibition Description]

Richard Wilson and the Transformation of European Landscape Painting (Yale Center for British Art, 2014-03-06 - 2014-06-01) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition] [Exhibition Description]

Nobleness and Grandeur - Forging Historical Landscape in Britain, 1760 - 1850 (Yale Center for British Art, 2005-01-27 - 2005-04-24) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition] [Exhibition Description]

Canaletto to Constable: Paintings of Town and Country from the Yale Center for British Art (The Grand Rapids Art Museum, 1999-10-22 - 2000-01-02) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition]

Canaletto to Constable: Paintings of Town and Country from the Yale Center for British Art (Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, 1998-02-08 - 1998-04-26) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition]

Fairest Isle - The Appreciation of British Scenery 1750-1850 (Yale Center for British Art, 1989-04-12 - 1989-06-25) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition]

Richard Wilson - The Landscape of Reaction (Yale Center for British Art, 1983-04-20 - 1983-06-19) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition]

Richard Wilson - The Landscape of Reaction (National Museum Wales, 1983-01-29 - 1983-03-20) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition]

Richard Wilson - The Landscape of Reaction (Tate Britain, 1982-11-03 - 1983-01-02) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition]

Malcolm Andrews, The Search for the Picturesque, Landscape aesthetics and Tourism in Britain, 1760-1800 , Scolar Press, Aldershot, England, 1989, pp. 114, 116, fig. 30, BH301 L3 A53 (YCBA) [YCBA]

Art Exhibitions, English Landscape , The Times (London), , Tuesday, July 29, 1947, p. 6, Available online : Times Digital Archive Also available on Microfilm : An T482 (SML) [ORBIS]

Art Exhibitions, English Landscapes , The Times (London), London, Friday, November 19, 1926, p. 12, Available online : Times Digital Archive Also available on Microfilm : An T482 (SML) [ORBIS]

Art Treasures Exhibition (Manchester, England), Catalogue of the art treasures of the United kingdom., Bradbury and Evans, London, 1857, pp. 83-84, no. 151 or 162, N5056 M35 M25 1857 (YCBA) [YCBA]

Art Treasures Exhibition, Manchester Times, Manchester, Saturday, June 6, 1857, p. 7, Online Resource Available online at 19th Century British Library Newspapers [ORBIS]

David Bindman, The History of British Art, Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, CT, 2008, pp. 39-40 (v.2), N6761 +H57 2008 Oversize (YCBA) [YCBA]

British Art at Yale, Apollo, v.105, April 1977, p. 286-8, fig. 2, N1 .A54 + OVERSIZE (YCBA) [YCBA]

Adrian Bury, Richard Wilson, R. A., The grand classic , F. Lewis, Publishers, Limited, London, 1947, pp. 73 and unpaginated page facing plate 45, NJ18 W72 B8 (YCBA) [YCBA]

Canaletto to Constable : paintings of town and country from the Yale Center for British Art, , Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, Conn., 1998, pp. 6-7, 59, pl. 17, ND1354.4 Y25 1998 (YCBA) [YCBA]

Catalogue of an exhibition of pictures by Richard Wilson and his circle : organized by the City Museum and Art Gallery, Birmingham, January, 1949, The Tate Gallery, London, , Tate Britain, London, 1949, p. 23, no. 62, NJ18 W72 T37 (YCBA) [YCBA]

Catalogue of pictures by Richard Wilson and his circle, November 17-January 9 1948-9 , City Museum & Art Gallery Birmingham, Birmingham, 1948, p. 21, no. 63, V 2449 (YCBA) [YCBA]

W. G. Constable, Richard Wilson, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass, 1953, pp. 44, 73, 94, 109, 190, pl. 62b, J18 W72 953 C (YCBA) [YCBA]

W. G. Constable, Richard Wilson, some pentimenti , Burlington Magazine, vol. 614, May 1954, p. 140, N1 B87 96 OVERSIZE (YCBA) [YCBA]

Malcolm Cormack, A Selective Promenade, Apollo, v.105, April 1977, pp. 286-8, fig. 2, N1 A54 + (YCBA) [YCBA]

Malcolm Cormack, Concise Catalogue of Paintings in the Yale Center for British Art, Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, CT, 1985, pp. 252, 253, N590.2 A83 (YCBA) [YCBA]

Matthew Craske, Joseph Wright of Derby : Painter of darkness, The Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art, New Haven, p. 214, fig. 142, NJ18.W95 C72 2020+ (YCBA) [YCBA]

Megan Cullen, Fairest isle : the appreciation of British scenery, 1750-1850 : [exhibition] label copy. Yale Center for British Art, April 12-June 25, 1989., , Yale Center for British Art, [New Haven, 1989, pp. 42-43, no. 96, ND1354.4 F351 1989 (YCBA) [YCBA]

Stephen Daniels, Paul Sandby, picturing Britain , Royal Academy of Arts, London, 2009, fig. 49, NJ18 Sa56 P3 2009 + OVERSIZE (YCBA) [YCBA]

Joseph Farington, The Diary of Joseph Farington, , Yale University Press, New Haven, CT, 1978, p. 2550 (vol 7), NJ18 F2164 A3 1978 (YCBA) [YCBA]

Sir Brinsley Ford, Sir Watkin Williams-Wynn, A Welsh Maecenas , Apollo, vol. 99, June 1974, p. 438, N1 A54 99:2 OVERSIZE (YCBA) [YCBA]

Sir Brinsley Ford, The Drawings of Richard Wilson, Faber & Faber, London, 1951, p. 38, NJ18 W72 F6 1951 OVERSIZE (YCBA) [YCBA]

Sir Brinsley Ford, The Richard Wilson Exhibition at Birmingham, Burlington Magazine, vol. 90 no. 548, November 1948, p. 326, N1 B87 90 OVERSIZE (YCBA) [YCBA]

Catherine M. Gordon, British paintings Hogarth to Turner, Frederick Warne, London, 1981, p. 76, ND466 G67 (YCBA) [YCBA]

Great artists of the Western World II, Marshall Cavendish Corporation, London ; New York, 1986, pp. 1852-1853 (part 58), V 1306 (YCBA) [YCBA]

John T. Hayes, British Patrons and Landscape Painting, Apollo, no. 62, April 1967, pp. 254-255, fig. 8, N1 A54 122:1 OVERSIZE (YCBA) [YCBA]

Luke Herrmann, [ Exhibition Reviews ] Richard Wilson and the Transformation of European Landscape Painting, YCBA, New Haven, 6 March - 1 June National Museum Wales / Amueddfa Cymru, Cardiff 5 July - 26 October , British Art Journal, Vol. 15, Autumn 2014, p. 121, N6761 B74 OVERSIZE (YCBA) [YCBA]

Olivia Horsfall Turner, Nobleness & grandeur : forging historical landscape in Britain 1760-1850, , Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, CT, 2005, pp. 3, 12, 19, no. 24, V 1420 (YCBA) [YCBA]

Elis Gwyn Jones, Richard Wilson, 1713-1782, Gwasg Prifysgol Cymru, Caerdydd, 1973, pp. 58-61, NJ18 W72 J65 (YCBA) [YCBA]

Charlotte Klonk, Science and the perception of nature : British landscape art in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, , The Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art, New Haven, 1996, p. 10, pl. 3, ND1354.4 K56 1996 (YCBA) [YCBA]

Charlotte Klonk, Science and the perception of nature, British landscape art in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries , , The Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art, New Haven, 1996, p. 10, pl. 3, ND 1354.4 K56 1996 (YCBA) [YCBA]

William Laffan, Thomas Roberts, landscape and patronage in eighteenth-century Ireland. , Churchill House Press, Tralee, 2009, pp. 250-251, NJ18.R544 L35 2009 + (YCBA) [YCBA]

Peter Lord, Gwenllian, essays on visual culture , Gomer Press, Llandysul, Dyfed, 1994, p. 43, N6792 L67 1994 (YCBA) [YCBA]

Peter Lord, Imaging the nation, University of Wales Press, Cardiff, 2000, pp. 116, 120, N6792 L675 2000 (YCBA) [YCBA]

Julia Marciari-Alexander, This other Eden : Paintings from the Yale Center for British Art, , Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, CT, 1998, p. 78, ND1314.3 Y36 1998 (YCBA) [YCBA]

John Olley, 20 St. James's Square Part 2, Architects' Journal, vol. 191, London, 28 Feb 1990, p. 52, JA10 Ar23 191.2 OVERSIZE (SML Yale Class) [ORBIS]

Paul Mellon's Legacy : a passion for British art [large print labels], , Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, CT, 2007, v. 3, N5220 M552 P381 2007 OVERSIZE (YCBA) [YCBA]

Claude Phillips, Royal Academy, Academy, London, 4 Feb 1888, p. 85, Available online via British Periodicals [ORBIS]

Martin Postle, Richard Wilson and the transformation of European landscape painting, Yale University Press, New Haven, 2014, pp. 113, 138-39, 165-66, 199-200, 266-67, Cat. No, 82, NJ18.W72 R53 2014 OVERSIZE (YCBA) [YCBA]

Ron Radford, Island to empire : 300 years of British art, 1550-1850 : paintings, watercolours, drawings, sculptures from the collection of the Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide, 2005, p. 144, N3913.5 .R34 2005 (LC)+ Oversize (YCBA) [YCBA]

Duncan Robinson, Fairest isle : the appreciation of British scenery, 1750-1850, , Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, 1989, p. 12, no. 96, ND1354.4 F35 (YCBA) [YCBA]

Michael Rosenthal, British Landscape Painting, Phaidon Press, Oxford, 1982, pp. 64-65, pl. 54, ND1354 R67 OVERSIZE (YCBA) [YCBA]

Michael Rosenthal, The art of Thomas Gainsborough, "a little business for the eye" , Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, 1999, p. 204, pl. 202, NJ18 G16 R67 1999 (YCBA) [YCBA]

David H. Solkin, Richard Wilson, the landscape of reaction, Tate Publishing, London, 1982, pp. 130-132, 139n32, 237-238, no. 132, no. 132, NJ18 W72 S65 + (YCBA) [YCBA]

Some principles and practices in British Art, Apollo, vol. 283, September 1985, pp. 179, 185, pl. iii, N1 A54 122:1 OVERSIZE (YCBA) [YCBA]

Spencer-Longhurst, Paul, with Kate Lowry and David Solkin, Richard Wilson Online : A Digital Catalogue Raisonne, , The Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art, London, 2014, no. P166, http://www.richardwilsononline.ac.uk/index.php?WINID=1582051040261 [Website]

David Stacey, [ Exhibition Reviews ] And another view of the Richard Wilson exhibition ..., British Art Journal, vol. 15, Autumn 2014, p. 122, N6761 B74 OVERSIZE (YCBA) [YCBA]

Denys Sutton, A meditative love of nature, The Richard Wilson Exhibition , Apollo, vol. 117, 1983, p. 44, fig. 12, N1 A54 117:1 OVERSIZE (YCBA) [YCBA]

Towards a new landscape, Bernard Jacobson Gallery, London, 1993, pp. 105, 128, pl. 1, ND1354.4 T68 1993 (YCBA) [YCBA]

Thomas Wright, Some account of the life of Richard Wilson, Esq. R.A., Longman, London, 1824, pp. 14, 106, 272, ND497 W7 W7 OVERSIZE (RARE BOOKS YCBA) [ORBIS]

Miles Wynn Cato, Parry, the life and works of William Parry, 1743-1791 , Aberystwyth, 2008, p. 43, NJ18.P23752 W95 2008 (YCBA) [YCBA]

Yale Center for British Art, Da Canaletto a Constable, vedute di citta` e di campagna dallo Yale Center for British Art : Ferrara - Palazzo dei Diamanti, 25 febbraio -20 maggio 2001 , Ferrara Arte, Ferrara, 2001, pp. 27-28, fig. 5, ND1354.4 Y2517 2001 OVERSIZE (YCBA) [YCBA]

William Zimmer, Urban and Rural, Rise and Fall, New York Times, 29 March 1998, p. CT16, Available online : New York Times Historical. [ORBIS]


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