Vision and Revision: Mountain Scenery in Snowdonia 1750-1880
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Vision and Revision: Mountain Scenery in Snowdonia 1750-1880 Peter Bishop PhD 2001 Vol.1 - Text Dissertation submitted in candidature for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. School of Art, University of Wales, Aberystwyth. Summer 2001. Thesis Abstract This thesis examines the visual depiction of mountain scenery in Snowdonia by artists, writers, illustrators and photographers from 1750 onwards. The scenery became associated with particular visual aesthetics. These are the topographical, the classical, the picturesque and the sublime. Its fundamental point is to demonstrate how these identities became established via a process of vision and revision. This study demonstrates the extensive range of visual material that has hitherto remained unknown. It is essentially a history of the mountain landscape of Snowdonia from the artist's point of view. Chapter one introduces four aesthetic categories that have been applied to this mountain scenery. The second chapter examines the role that Richard Wilson played in the visual establishment of Snowdonia and discusses how his painting came to serve the needs of the Welsh landed gentry and how, in the late twentieth century, this imagery is still being used in the promotion of north Wales. Chapter three examines the topographical aesthetic in relation to Dolbadarn Castle and Snowdon and demonstrates how this early viewpoint has predominantly retained its topographical status. Chapter four discusses Snowdon from Capel Curig and examines the classical identities that have been applied to this view from its first appearance at the Royal Academy in 1787 to its photographic appropriation in contemporary tourist literature. Chapter five examines the picturesque viewpoint of the Pont Aberglaslyn in connection with the tour guide literature, first recorded in the late 1770s but now ceased. The final chapter discusses the sublime as a mode of vision at the Llyn Idwal site and the nearby scenery of the Nant Ffrancon pass from the appearance of this subject at the Royal Academy in the third decade of the nineteenth century. Peter Bishop 2001 Contents List of illustrations. i Acknowledgements. xii Preface. xiv Introduction. 1 1. Landscape Aesthetics and Snowdonia. 5 2. Wilson's Imagery: Snowdon and Cader Idris. 25 3. Topographical Snowdonia: A View in Nant Beris. 55 4. Classical Snowdonia: Snowdon from Capel Curig. 73 5. Picturesque Snowdonia: Pont Aberglaslyn. 115 6. Sublime Snowdonia: Llyn Idwal. 148 Conclusion. 179 Bibliography. 186 Bibliography of the published and unpublished tour accounts and the guidebook literature of Snowdonia 1770-1900. 211 Volume 2. List of illustrations. i Figures 1-93. xii Volume 3. Appendices i List of Illustrations Figures. All measurements are in inches; centimetre equivalents are shown in brackets, height before width. Sizes are based on sight measurements and the print sizes refer to the picture area, not the plate mark or paper size. (1) Moses Griffith, Fisherwick Park, Staffordshire, c.1778, coloured wash drawing, 9¾ x 16¼ (25.2 x 41.1), Whitworth Art Gallery, University of Manchester. (2) William Gilpin, View of a Castle on Lake Dochart, aquatint, 4¾ x 6½ (12 x 16.8) oval, in William Gilpin, Observations on Several Parts of Great Britain, Particularly the High-Lands of Scotland, Relative Chiefly to Picturesque Beauty, Made in the Year 1776, (1789) London, 1808, plate XX. (3) William Gilpin, Non Picturesque Mountain View, aquatint, 5 x 8¾ (13.5 x 22), in William Gilpin, Three Essays: on Picturesque Beauty; on Picturesque Travel; and on Sketching Landscape: with a poem, on Landscape Painting, (1792) London, 1808, f, p.19. (4) William Gilpin, Picturesque Mountain View, aquatint, 5 x 8¾ (13.5 x 22), in William Gilpin, Three Essays: on Picturesque Beauty; on Picturesque Travel; and on Sketching Landscape: with a poem, on Landscape Painting, (1792) London, 1808, f, p. 18. (5) William Pars, The Rhone Glacier and the Source of the Rhone, 1770, watercolour with pen and ink over pencil, 13 x 19¼ (33.1 x 48.8), British Museum. i (6) Llyn Nantlle / Nantlle Lake, colour photograph reproduction, 2½ x 3½ (6.3 x 9.1), in Snowdonia Mountains and Coast, ed. Roger Thomas, Conway Borough Council, 1997, p.32. (7) Llyn Nantlle, Snowdonia, colour photograph reproduction, 12 x 8 (30.5 x 20.3), in Wales 1995, The Official Wales Tourist Board Holiday Brochure, published by the Wales Tourist Board, Cardiff, 1995. (8) Snowdonia National Park Guide Number 2, front cover, 8¼ x 5¼ (21.5 x 13.5), Her Majesty's Stationery Office, London, 1973. (9) Richard Wilson, Snowdon from Llyn Nantlle, c. 1765-6, oil on canvas, 39¾ x 50 (101.6 x 127), Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool. (10) Richard Wilson, Snowdon Hill and the adjacent country in North Wales, 1775, engraving and etching, engraved by William Woolett, 16½ x 21½ (42 x 54), published John Boydell, London, 1775, Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge. (11) Thomas Mann Baynes, Snowdon from Nantlle, lithograph, 4 x 6 (10.2 x 15.3), in Rev. G J Freeman, Sketches in Wales; or A Diary of Three Walking Excursions in that Principality, in the Years 1823, 1824, 1825, London, 1826, plate 13. (12) Richard Wilson, Snowdon from Llyn Nantlle reproduction on front dust cover of Luke Herrmann, British Landscape Painting of the 18th Century, London, Faber & Faber Ltd, 1973. (13) Richard Wilson, Llyn -y- Cau, Cader Idris, c.1765-7, oil on canvas, 19½ x 28½ (50 x 72), Tate Britain, London. (14) Edward Pugh, A Visit to Cader Idris, 1814, aquatint, 4¼ x 5½ (11 x 14), in Edward Pugh, Cambria Depicta: A Tour through North Wales Illustrated with Picturesque Views By a Native Artist, London, 1816, f, p.206. ii (15) Thomas Webster, Llyn-y-Cau Tarn, near the Summit of Cader Idris, 1804, watercolour, 7¼ x 11 (18.4 x 28), Victoria & Albert Museum, London. (16) Cornelius Varley, Wilson's Pool, Cader Idris, 1803, watercolour, 7 x 13 (17.7 x 33), Private Collection. (17) Moses Griffith, A View in Nant Beris, engraving, 5 x 7¼ (12.6 x 18.4), in Thomas Pennant, A Tour in Wales, The Journey to Snowdon, vol.2, London, 1784, plate VIII. (18) Nathaniel & Samuel Buck, The West View of Dolbadarn Castle in the County of Caernarvin, 1742, engraving, 7¾ x 14½ (19.5 x 37) National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth. (19) Richard Wilson, Dolbadarn Castle, c. 1762, oil on canvas, 37 x 46 (92.7 x 125.7), National Museum of Wales, Cardiff. (20) Paul Sandby, Dolbadarn Castle and Llanberis Valley, 1764, watercolour, 14 x 20 (37.5 x 50.8), Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery. (21) John Boydell, A View of Snowdon in the Vale of Llan Beriis in Caernarvonshire, 1750, engraving, 16 x 22 (39.2 x 55.4), National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth. (22) Samuel Hieronymus Grimm, Dolbadarn Castle, engraving, 6 x 8¼ (15.1 x 21), in Henry Penruddocke Wyndham, A Gentleman's Tour through Monmouthshire and Wales. Made in the months of June and July 1774, and in the months of June, July and August 1777, Salisbury, 1781, plate XIII. (23) Joseph Mallord William Turner, Lake of Llanberis with Dolbadarn Castle, 1799, pen and ink drawing, 3 x 5¼ (7.9 x 13.3) in J M W Turner Sketchbook, Dolbadarn, no. XLVI, Turner Bequest, Tate Britain, London. iii (24) John Varley, Llanberis Lake with Dolbadarn Castle, 1804, watercolour 15½ x 21 (38.7 x 52.5), Private Collection. (25) Thomas Creswick, Dolbadarn Tower, engraving, 4 x 5¾ (9.7 x 14.5), in Thomas Roscoe, Wanderings and Excursions in North Wales, London, 1836, plate XIX. (26) Myles Birket Foster, Llanberis Lake, engraving, 3 x 5 (7.5 x 12.5), in Black's Picturesque Guide to North Wales, (1858) Edinburgh and London, 1886, f, p.95. (27) J Newman & Co, The Victoria Hotel, Llanberis, North Wales, c.1840, chromolithograph, 11 x 15 (27.6 x 38.5), National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth. (28) Newman & Co, Royal Victoria Hotel, wood engraving, 5 x 4¼ (12 x 10.5), in Askew Roberts, The Gossiping Guide to Wales, London and Oswestry, 1883, advertisement section, p.36. (29) George Lowthian Hall, View Coming Out of Tunnel upon Llyn Padarn, engraving, 2½ x 6 (6 x 15), in Askew Roberts, The Gossiping Guide to Wales, Pictorial Itinerary, London and Oswestry, 1883, p.246. (30) Llyn Padarn, Llanberis, monochrome photograph reproduced on postcard, c.1915, 3¼ x 5¼ (8 x 13.2), Judges Ltd., Private Collection. (31) Dolbadarn Castle, monochrome photograph reproduction on postcard, c.1900, 3¼ x 5¼ (8 x 13.3), Private Collection. (32) Dolbadarn: Studies on a Theme, ed., Paul Joyner, exhibition catalogue, National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth, 1990, front cover. (33) Peter Sager, Dolbadarn Castle, monochrome photographic reproduction, 3½ x 5 (8.5 x 13), in Peter Sager, Wales, London, 1996, illustration number 97. iv (34) Castell Dolbadarn / Dolbadarn Castle, colour photograph reproduction, 6 x 3¾ (15 x 9.5), in Snowdonia Mountains and Coast, ed. Roger Thomas, Conway Borough Council, 1997, p.33. (35) John Glover, Snowdon and Dolbadarn Castle, North Wales, 1838, oil on canvas, 30 x 40 (77.x 114) National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth.. (36) Andy Williams, Snowdon from Capel Curig, colour photograph reproduced on postcard, 4 x 5½ (10.2 x 14.2), published by J Arthur Dixon, 1994, authors Collection. (37) Nicholas Poussin, Orpheus and Eurydice, 1650, oil on canvas, 48 x 79 (120 x 200), Musee du Louvre, Paris (38) Philippe Jacques de Loutherbourg, Snowdon from Capel Curig, a morning, 1787, oil on canvas, 57¾ x 79 (134.3 x 200), Yale Centre for British Art, New Haven. (39) Moses Griffith, The Summit of Snowdon from Capel Cerig, engraving, 5 x 7½ (12.7 x 19), in Thomas Pennant, A Tour in Wales, The Journey to Snowdon, vol.