Elizabeth Middleton Powell Saw Mill at Montreux, Switzerland

Elizabeth Middleton Powell (1799-1881): British & Continental Views

This painting forms part of a collection of works by Elizabeth Middleton Powell née Wynter (1799–1881) of Brecon, Wales. Wynter was an old Brecknock family, that included the prominent Tudor naval commander Admiral Sir William Wynter (c.1521–1589), who in 1561 purchased the manor of Lydney in Gloucestershire. There is a painting of Lydney in the collection.

Elizabeth was the daughter of Rev William Winter (1739–1792) and Elizabeth Bold (1768–1847). In 1826 she married Gabriel Middleton Powell of Peterstone Court, Brecon. He was the son of Sir Gabriel Compton Powell (1753–1813).

Elizabeth Middleton Powell produced the charming watercolours in this collection over a period of nearly three decades, spanning 1852 to 1880. They record her Continental travels, to Bavaria and the Tyrol in 1856; the Rhine, Switzerland, Piedmont, Liguria and the Pyrenees in 1857; Switzerland and Piedmont in 1858; Biarritz and the Pyrenees in 1859; Switzerland, the Pyrenees and Northern Spain in 1860; Switzerland in 1865; the French Riviera in 1871; and Rome in 1876. In the UK her subjects cover principally Wales, Devon and Cornwall. In Devon she spends time in the area of Budleigh Salterton, which was home to her niece, Elizabeth Frances Wynter Mercer (1835–1917), to whom she bequeathed the collection of paintings.