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Carnarvon Castle, the Birthplace of Edward II, in North Wales
The Trustees of the British Museum
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William Byrne (1743-1805) after Wilson
Carnarvon Castle, the Birthplace of Edward II, in North Wales
Published 17 July 1775
Etching and engraving
Plate: 404 x 537 mm
Plate: 15 7/8 x 21 1/8 in.
1917,1208.3407
E27C
View of a Norman castle with angled towers in the walls on the right, overlooking a river, with wooded banks opposite on the left and fields in the distance. On the far side of a broad stretch of water, a woman is milking a cow and two other figures are resting on the bank in the foreground.
1917 donated by Nan Ino Cooper, Baroness Lucas of Crudwell and Lady Dingwall (1880-1958) of Wrest Park, Bedfordshire among 4651 prints and drawings given to the British Museum in memory of her brother, Auberon Thomas Herbert, 9th Baron Lucas (1876-1916).
Lettered below the image in English and French, production detail: 'Richd. Wilson pinxt', 'Willm. Byrne sculpt' and publication line: 'Published July 17th. 1775 by John Boydell, Engraver in Cheapside, London'
Caernarvon Castle is located on the northern banks of the River Seiont on the Caernarvonshire coast in North Wales, across the Menai Straits from the Island of Anglesey. Its massive ruins offered the traveller in search of the picturesque an impressive reminder of Britain's heroic past. The castle was begun by Edward I in 1284 and his son Edward, the first English Prince of Wales, was born in the great Eagle Tower on 25 April that year.
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Other impressions are at The National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth / Llyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru (4609344 & PE194/b)
P12 Caernarvon Castle, Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit
P12A Caernarvon Castle, Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection, New Haven
P12C Caernarvon Castle with Anglesea in the Distance, Private Collection
P12D Caernarvon Castle, National Museum Wales, Cardiff
This print is one of the set, Six Views in North and South Wales, all after Wilson, published by John Boydell in 1775.
R. Gough, Anecdotes of British Topography, London 1768, p. 603; Edwards 1808, p. 88