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    "Wilson and Europe 2014 " is linked to these Works
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    Dinas Bran Castle, near Llangollen - II

    Dinas Bran Castle, near Llangollen - II
    Dinas Bran Castle, near Llangollen - II
    Dinas Bran Castle, near Llangollen - II
    National Museum Wales, Cardiff
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    Artist
    Richard Wilson (1713/14-1782) and later intervention
    Title
    Dinas Bran Castle, near Llangollen - II
    Date
    After 1771 (undated)
    Medium
    Oil on canvas
    Dimensions
    Metric: 108.6 x 146.7 cm
    Imperial: 42 3/4 x 57 3/4 in.
    Collection
    National Museum Wales, Cardiff. To license image, click here.
    Accession Number
    NMW A 3277
    Wilson Online Reference
    P167
    Description
    The fortress stands on a high wooded hill in the middle distance with a flat valley and mountains beyond. In the foreground groups of peasants rest by a bridge over a torrent, with tall trees left and right.
    Exhibited
    Arts Council 1946, Masterpieces from Welsh Houses National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth (??)
    Provenance
    Reputedly belonged to the French King, Louis-Philippe; Hollingsworth sale, Christie's 11 March 1882 (105 - Wynnstay Park), bt in; said to have belonged to an anonymous Flintshire owner; Watkin William; purchased by the National Museum of Wales, 1919.
    Signature/inscription
    Unsigned; no inscription
    Techniques and materials
    The support is unusual, being a twill rather than a simple weave cloth and the single cream coloured ground is also uncommon in Wilson's work. However, both the X-ray evidence and the style of painting indicate that it is from his hand.
    Labels
    [1] Label on frame: Welsh Arts Council | Exhibition: Richard Wilson | Artist: Richard Wilson | Title: Dinas Bran, Near Llangollen II | Owner: National Museum of Wales Cat. 3
    Subject
    Dinas Bran near Llangollen in Denbighshire is located near the River Dee, but is hemmed in by hills, rather than near a coastal plain, as depicted here.
    Related Drawings
    D374 Castell Dinas Bran, Wales, Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection
    D374A Dinas Bran from Llangollen, National Museum Wales, Cardiff
    Versions
    See 'Links' tab
    Critical commentary
    Wilson here combines the jagged outline of the thirteenth-century castle, Dinas Bran on the summit of the hill to the left with the landscape of Tivoli and the Roman Campagna.
    Previous Cat/Ref Nos
    Old accession number:19.101
    Old registration number: 214
    1919.1
    Bibliography
    Pennant 1784, vol. 1, pp. 297-98; The Connoisseur, April 1923; 'Wilson at Wynnstay', Connoisseur, vol. 145, February 1960, p. 46; WGC, p. 176, pl. 36b; Hernon 2013, p. 10, pl. 12B; Wilson and Europe, pp. 197-98; Barringer & Fairclough 2014, pp. 21, 48, 64-65
    Link to WG Constable Archive Record
    WGC/1/1/41
    Condition/Conservation
    An X-ray shows that the present positioning of the hill at the left side of the composition is an alteration of the original layout, that there were buildings on the side of the hill and possibly a waterfall at the left edge of the composition. No reserve was left for the trees at left or right, indicating that these were not part of the original composition. Infra-red shows a wayside shrine behind and to the left of the figure group, which appears in Wilson's Tivoli compositions. It is thus likely that this painting was begun as a view of Tivoli, abandoned and then completed after 1771, using a study of Dinas Bran.

    Work of Art

    Drawings

    • Richard Wilson (1713/14-1782), Dinas Bran from Llangollen, National Museum Wales, Cardiff
    • Richard Wilson (1713/14-1782), Castell Dinas Bran, Wales, Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection

    Versions

    • Richard Wilson (1713/14-1782)and later intervention, Castell Dinas Bran from Llangollen, The National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth / Llyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru

    Documents

    • William George Constable, Richard Wilson
    • Martin Postle & Robin Simon, Richard Wilson and the Transformation of European Landscape Painting
    • Paul Hernon, Sir Watkin's Tours: Excursions to France, Italy and North Wales, 1768-71
    • Tim Barringer and Oliver Fairclough, Pastures Green and dark satanic Mills: The British Passion for Landscape
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