Carnarvon Castle

Carnarvon Castle
Carnarvon Castle
Carnarvon Castle
Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection
title=Credit line
Artist
William Byrne (1743-1805) after Wilson
Title
Carnarvon Castle
Date
Published 17 July 1775
Medium
Line engraving and etching with hand colouring on moderately thick, moderately textured, cream laid paper
Dimensions
Metric: Sheet: 445 x 616 mm.; plate: 400 x 540 mm
Imperial: Sheet: 17 1/2 x 24 1/4 in.; plate: 15 3/4 x 21 1/4 in.
Accession Number
B1977.14.14573
Wilson Online Reference
E27A
Description
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.
Provenance
Acquired 1977
Signature/inscription
Inscribed in graphite, lower right [?]: 'W . . . '
Lettered lower left: 'Richd. Wilson Pinxt.'; lower left: 'CARNARVON CASTLE, | The Birth Place of Edward II. in North Wales.'; lower right: 'LE CHATEAU DE CARNARVON, | ou le Roy Edouard II. étoit né, dans la Principauté de Galles.'; lower right: 'Willm. Byrne Sculpt.'
Collectors' marks
[1] Paul Mellon
Verso inscriptions
[1] Lower left, graphite: '16400/9/420'
[2] Lower right, graphite: '(IR74/657)'
Subject
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.
Versions
See 'Links' tab.
Other impressions are at The National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth / Llyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru (4609344 & PE194/b)
Related Paintings
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
Critical commentary
This print is one of the set, Six Views in North and South Wales, all after Wilson, published by John Boydell in 1775.
Previous Cat/Ref Nos
Object ID: 40400
Bibliography
R. Gough, Anecdotes of British Topography, London 1768, p. 603; Edwards 1808, p. 88
More Information
An impression belonged to William Lock of Norbury and featured in his sale, Sotheby's London 3-7 May 1821 (619).
Condition/Conservation
Unmounted