Conway Valley. H. Clarence Whaite (1828-1912). Undated, but possibly 1904, the year it was given to the museum — if it was given by the artist. Oil on panel. H 21.3 x W 33.1 cm. Collection: Bolton Library and Museum Services, Bolton Council. Accession number: BOLMG:1904.2. Acquisition method: gift, 1904. An area beloved by the artists who visited North Wales in the nineteenth century for its beautiful mountain scenery, the Conway (or Conwy) Valley was Whaite's own personal locality once he settled there himself. Far from being isolated, he had several colleagues in the area (see Lord 317), and conducted his artistic life in close connection with them through the Royal Cambrian Society in the little seaside town. Though mountainous, it is not bleak there; the valley is inhabited and farmed; human life goes on quietly in this most beautiful of places. A sail can be seen on the water in the distance, a farmer stands with his cattle, and shelter is close at hand. Shadows on the mountain slopes are more blue than black, trees are more gold than green, and one fallen tree half obscures (and shields) the little farmhouse.
Link to related material
Image released by the museum on the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives licence (CC BY-NC-ND), via Art UK. Image download, text and formatting by Jacqueline Banerjee. [Click on the image to enlarge it.]
Bibliography
Lord, Peter. Imaging the Nation: The Visual Culture of Wales. Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 2000.
Created 16 January 2022