James Baker Pyne RBA, Vale of Llanberis, North Wales –c.1840s watercolour painting
James Baker Pyne RBA, Vale of Llanberis, North Wales –c.1840s watercolour painting
James Baker Pyne RBA, Vale of Llanberis, North Wales –c.1840s watercolour painting

James Baker Pyne RBA Vale of Llanberis, North Wales

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An original c.1840s watercolour painting, James Baker Pyne RBA, Vale of Llanberis, North Wales.

A highly atmospheric view in the Vale of Llanberis, North Wales by James Baker Pyne (1800–1870). The vantage point appears to be looking towards Llyn Peris lake from its source in the south-east, Afon Nant Peris, where figures are seen collecting river water and resting by the water's edge. Another figure travels on horseback, the main form of transport available to tourists in Snowdonia before the advent of the railway. In the far distance is the faint outline of Dolbadarn Castle on the left. An unusually broad footbridge spans the lake in the middle-distance.

The painting's ethereal quality, achieved by a restricted palette, suggestive ink line and impressionistic application of washes, indicates that the work dates from after the 1830s, when the artist started to be heavily influenced by J.M.W. Turner.

This watercolour can be compared with an 1832 work by Turner, also in watercolour, bodycolour and ink, depicting Llanberis Lake and Snowdon (National Galleries of Scotland D NG 884). Turner paints from the opposite end of the lake, but similarly has figures in the foreground water and denotes the simple profile of Dolbadarn Castle. A more worked up example in oil by Pyne shows figures washing in the river at nearby Beddgelert (Indianapolis Museum of Art Galleries at Newfields).

In watercolour with bodycolour, ink and graphite. On cream wove paper.

+ Read the Artist Research

James Baker Pyne (1800–1870)

James Baker Pyne (1800–1870) was born in Bristol. Following the wishes of his family, he was articled to an attorney with a view to a career in law, but in his free time he taught himself to draw. By the age of twenty-one he had given up law to paint and by the late 1820s he was supplementing his income as a successful drawing master, numbering William James Müller (1812–1845) and George Arthur Fripp (1813–1896) amongst his pupils. At this time Pyne was influenced by other Bristol painters, especially the dark and dramatic works of Francis Danby (1793– 1861).

In 1835 Pyne moved to London and established a studio in Dorset Square. From this time onwards he exhibited almost entirely at Suffolk Street; in 1842 he was elected a member of the Society of British Artists and later Vice-President. He also occasionally showed his paintings at the Royal Academy and the British Institute.

From the 1830s Pyne's work increasingly showed the influence of J.M.W. Turner, employing dramatic effects and increasingly restricted palette, often dominated by pale yellow. His landscape subjects expanded outside of Bristol to include the wider West Country, the Lake District and North Wales. In 1838 he made the first of many trips to Europe, gathering material for subjects in the Alps, the Rhine, the Tyrol and the Italian Lakes. In 1848 the art dealer, William Agnew commissioned Pyne to paint in the Lake District, followed by a three-year tour of Italy in 1851, in which he was accompanied by the Bristol watercolourist William Evans (1809–1858). His Lake District tour resulted in two volumes of lithographs, The English Lake District (1853) and Lake Scenery of England (1859).

James Baker Pyne is represented in numerous public collections, including the British Museum, Tate and V&A, Bristol Museum & Art Gallery, National Museum Cardiff, National Galleries of Scotland and Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, Connecticut.

COA
+ Artwork Details

Dimensions: Height: 22.8cm (8.98") Width: 39.7cm (15.63")

Presented: Unframed.

Medium: Watercolour

Age: Mid-19th-century

Signed: No.

Inscribed: Inscribed verso.

Dated: --

Condition: Some age toning across the sheet. Faint scattered foxing visible in the sky area. There is a small patch repair to the paper at the upper left corner. Historic hinging tape remnants to the upper edge verso. Please see photos for detail.

Stock number: KB-542