Anon. Castle of Pierre en Cise, River Saône, Lyon

Topographical Watercolours: North Wales

This picture forms part of an interesting collection of early 19th-century topographical works that we have for sale by the same hand. The landscapes are primarily in North Wales, and additionally in the Lake District, Scotland, and the French Côte d'Azur.

These pictures bear the influence of various leading British watercolourists at the end of the 18th and beginning of the 19th century. The artist's technique in some of the works, where flattened blocks of colour are overlaid with darker wash, is reminiscent of the experimental 18th-century work of Alexander Cozens (1717–1786) or the picturesque monochrome subjects of William Gilpin (1724–1804). The colouration in the graphite and wash drawings is evocative of Francis Towne (1739/1740–1816). Our artist visited beauty spots in North Wales and the Lake District that were popular with artists at the time, such as Pont Aberglaslyn, painted by Paul Sandby (1731–1809), Francis Nicholson (1753–1844) and John Sell Cotman (1782–1842), or Rydal Falls, painted by Francis Towne, Joseph Farington RA (1747–1821) and John 'Warwick' Smith (1749–1831), amongst others.