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

    Carnarvon Castle
    Carnarvon Castle
    Carnarvon Castle
    Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection
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    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.
    Collection
    Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection, New Haven. To license images click here
    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

    Work of Art

    Versions

    • 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, Caernarvon Castle, National Museum Wales, Cardiff
    • 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)
    • Paul Mellon (1907-1999)

    Documents

    • Edward Edwards, Anecdotes of Painters who have resided or been born in England; with critical Remarks on their Productions
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