
Poppy Harvey-Jones
Head of Sale
Sold for £11,475 inc. premium
Our Old Master Paintings specialists can help you find a similar item at an auction or via a private sale.
Find your local specialistHead of Sale
Provenance
Sale, Sotheby's, London, 1 April 1993, lot 59, where purchased by the present owner
Exhibited
Probably London, Royal Academy, 1802, no. 460 as Caernarvon Castle, North Wales
Cotman made a tour of North Wales in 1800 travelling via Bristol to Caernarvon and reaching Conway in August, and it is possible he undertook a second trip in 1802 although no dated drawings exist to confirm this. (The present work, dated 1802, may be based on a sketch from the 1800 tour and worked up a later date).
The landscape of Wales could not have been more different from the flat terrain of East Anglia to which Cotman was accustomed. The dramatic, craggy mountains he encountered and waterside castles were his first experience of 'sublime' landscape and will have left an indelible impression on him; it was in fact a turning point in his career. The central light source in this watercolour, appearing to radiate out from the base of the castle, was a device first pioneered by Girtin and it is used by Cotman to great dramatic effect in other works of this period (see The interior of a barn, possibly in Wales, Sotheby's, 9 July 2014, lot 190). The present piece is one of the most impressive of his views of Wales and was very probably the view of Caernarvon Castle exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1802.