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    300 years
    "Byrne" Is linked to these Works of Art
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    Caernarvon Castle

    Caernarvon Castle
    Caernarvon Castle
    Caernarvon Castle
    National Museum Wales, Cardiff
    title=Credit line
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    Artist
    William Byrne (1743-1805) after Wilson
    Title
    Caernarvon Castle
    Date
    Published 17 July 1775
    Medium
    Engraving on laid paper
    Dimensions
    Metric: 413 x 543 mm
    Imperial: 16 1/4 x 21 5/16 in.
    Collection
    National Museum Wales, Cardiff. To license image, click here.
    Accession Number
    NMW A 10996
    Wilson Online Reference
    E27D
    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.
    Signature/inscription
    Lettered below the image:
    [1] Lower left: Richd. Wilson pinxt
    [2] Lower right: Willm. Byrne sculpt
    [3] Left centre: CARNARVON CASTLE, | the Birth Place of Edward II. in North Wales
    [4] Right centre: LE CHATEAU DE CARNARVON, | ou le Roy Edouarrd II. étoit né, dans la Principauté de Galles -
    [5] Lower centre: Published July 17th. 1775 by John Boydell Engraver in Cheapside London
    Verso inscriptions
    [1] Lower right, pencil: 86.185
    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
    Related Works by Other Artists
    [1] Joseph Wright of Derby, Caernarvon Castle by Moonlight, c.1780-85, Manchester City Galleries (1905.7)
    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. The others are E22, E28, E29, E30 and E31. Solkin suggested that the present example and others from the series lacking Boydell's publication line may have been commissioned by Wilson before financial difficulties in the mid-1770s constrained him to sell the plates to Boydell.
    Previous Cat/Ref Nos
    86.185 DF
    Bibliography
    R. Gough, Anecdotes of British Topography, London 1768, p. 603; Pennant 1784, pp. 214-19
    Link to WG Constable Archive Record
    WGC/1/1/38
    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
    Trimmed close to plate mark

    Work of Art

    Versions

    • William Byrne (1743-1805)after Wilson, Carnarvon Castle, Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection, New Haven
    • William Byrne (1743-1805)after Wilson, Prospect of Caernarfon Castle from the North, The National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth / Llyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru
    • William Byrne (1743-1805)after Wilson, Carnarvon Castle, The British Museum
    • William Byrne (1743-1805)after Wilson, Carnarvon Castle, the Birthplace of Edward II, in North Wales, The British Museum

    Paintings

    • Richard Wilson (1713/14-1782), Caernarvon Castle, Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit
    • Richard Wilson (1713/14-1782), Caernarvon Castle, Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection, New Haven
    • Richard Wilson (1713/14-1782), Caernarvon Castle with Anglesea in the Distance, Private Collection
    • Richard Wilson (1713/14-1782), Caernarvon Castle, National Museum Wales, Cardiff

    Biographies

    • William Byrne (1743-1805)
    • John Boydell (1720-1804)
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