The story of Welsh art

Taal: NL
Categorie: actualiteit

Scrambling up the side of one of Wales's highest and most rugged mountains, Huw Stephens begins this second episode by retracing the steps of Richard Wilson, an 18th century artist who changed the course of art history. Bringing harmony and beauty to a landscape that had previously been dismissed as "God's rubbish tip", he transformed the way Wales was seen by the world. As Huw discovers, he was not the last to do so - JMW Turner first visited Wales aged 17 and would return many times, painting untamed landscapes, filled with romance and emotion. As the 19th century progressed, a very different Wales became the focus of art. In Merthyr Tydfil, once the iron capital of the world, Huw discovers the work of Penry Williams, a local artist who was commissioned to paint the vast Cyfarthfa ironworks in all their cathedral-like grandeur and glory. As art and industry collided, the people who did the back-breaking work were depicted for the first time. At National Museum Wales, Huw is shown a remarkable collection of 19th century portraits of named labourers, each with his own character and identity. Commissioned by Francis Crawshay, the collection is the only one of its kind in Britain. Escaping the dirt and noise of industrialisation, artists were drawn in increasing numbers to the unspoilt rural charm of north Wales. Huw travels to Betws-y-Coed where, in the 1840s, an artists' colony established itself in what was then a tiny village. David Cox, a celebrated landscape artist of the time, was a frequent visitor who painted a funeral scene in which the villagers process down a country lane behind a coffin towards St Michael's church. Endlessly copied and engraved, it became the most famous image of Wales in Victorian art.