News & Events
SPRING 2024
Artisan Painters Exhibition
Thursday, 13th October 2011
Welsh Artisan Painters at Oriel Plas Glyn-y-Weddw, Llanbedrog. 12 November to 24 December 2011. Curated by Peter Lord.
In November and December, Oriel Plas Glyn-y-Weddw at Llanbedrog, near Pwllheli, will be presenting an exhibition of portraits and other pictures made by Welsh artisan painters. This is the first such exhibition since Peter Lord's groundbreaking 'Artisan Painters' was held at the National Library of Wales in 1993. Artisan painters were professional artists who found their patrons mainly among the rising middle class in Wales during the first half of the nineteenth century. Some like Hugh Hughes (1790-1863) and William Roos (1808-1878) worked all over the country, and among the Welsh communities of London and Liverpool. Others, like John Roberts of Llanystumdwy (flourished 1820's-30's), worked locally and, in addition to portraits, painted pictures of ships, inscriptions in chapels and churches, and signs for shops and pubs.
The exhibition will include over 40 examples of portraits, ship pictures and landscapes by both national and local artisans. A substantial number of these works have been discovered and sold by Miles Wynn Cato over the past twenty years. The exhibition presents unique opportunity to see these pictures, since nearly all are drawn from private collections. Also on display will be the self-portrait by Edward Owen of Penrhos, Anglesey. Painted in 1732, this important Welsh portrait was recently rediscovered in America. Owen was an apprentice in London to Thomas Gibson, and although he died only a few years after the picture was painted and so had only a very brief career, he is of considerable interest for the many letters that he wrote to members of his family while in London, which describe the life of the apprentice painter in Covent Garden. The self-portrait is a half-length, with the artist holding his palette and brushes, and it has now returned to a private collection in Wales.
Families have been comparatively settled over many generations in Llyn and as a result a higher proportion of artisan pictures has survived there than in many other places in Wales. Oriel Plas Glyn-y-Weddw hopes that the exhibition will help to bring yet more to light. The exhibition has been curated by Peter Lord, Wales's foremost expert on artisan paintings, and he will be on hand in the gallery to discuss the pictures.
Look out for S4C's arts programme 'Pethe' as a documentary focussing on this exhibition will be broadcast sometime between 12-26 November.
On Saturday 26 November 2011 there will be an Open Day when members of the public are invited to bring in their own family portraits, ship pictures, landscapes etc..., whatever their condition, to be assessed and recorded by Peter Lord and Miles Wynn Cato. This will help to build a better picture of the history of artisan painters in the area, and in Wales as a whole.
For the Plas Glyn-y-Weddw website click here
In November and December, Oriel Plas Glyn-y-Weddw at Llanbedrog, near Pwllheli, will be presenting an exhibition of portraits and other pictures made by Welsh artisan painters. This is the first such exhibition since Peter Lord's groundbreaking 'Artisan Painters' was held at the National Library of Wales in 1993. Artisan painters were professional artists who found their patrons mainly among the rising middle class in Wales during the first half of the nineteenth century. Some like Hugh Hughes (1790-1863) and William Roos (1808-1878) worked all over the country, and among the Welsh communities of London and Liverpool. Others, like John Roberts of Llanystumdwy (flourished 1820's-30's), worked locally and, in addition to portraits, painted pictures of ships, inscriptions in chapels and churches, and signs for shops and pubs.
The exhibition will include over 40 examples of portraits, ship pictures and landscapes by both national and local artisans. A substantial number of these works have been discovered and sold by Miles Wynn Cato over the past twenty years. The exhibition presents unique opportunity to see these pictures, since nearly all are drawn from private collections. Also on display will be the self-portrait by Edward Owen of Penrhos, Anglesey. Painted in 1732, this important Welsh portrait was recently rediscovered in America. Owen was an apprentice in London to Thomas Gibson, and although he died only a few years after the picture was painted and so had only a very brief career, he is of considerable interest for the many letters that he wrote to members of his family while in London, which describe the life of the apprentice painter in Covent Garden. The self-portrait is a half-length, with the artist holding his palette and brushes, and it has now returned to a private collection in Wales.
Families have been comparatively settled over many generations in Llyn and as a result a higher proportion of artisan pictures has survived there than in many other places in Wales. Oriel Plas Glyn-y-Weddw hopes that the exhibition will help to bring yet more to light. The exhibition has been curated by Peter Lord, Wales's foremost expert on artisan paintings, and he will be on hand in the gallery to discuss the pictures.
Look out for S4C's arts programme 'Pethe' as a documentary focussing on this exhibition will be broadcast sometime between 12-26 November.
On Saturday 26 November 2011 there will be an Open Day when members of the public are invited to bring in their own family portraits, ship pictures, landscapes etc..., whatever their condition, to be assessed and recorded by Peter Lord and Miles Wynn Cato. This will help to build a better picture of the history of artisan painters in the area, and in Wales as a whole.
For the Plas Glyn-y-Weddw website click here
Art Discoveries
Tuesday, 15th February 2011
In these hard times it is gratifying to note that exciting Welsh and British pictures continue to turn up and, when experience and knowledge are applied, can still be acquired at reasonable prices. In the past few months the gallery has been able to buy a number of 'sleepers' i.e pictures whose authorship and/or true significance has been overlooked by auctioneers' cataloguers. These have included British portraits by Thomas Gainsborough, Arthur Devis and William Hoare of Bath as well as important Welsh works by Moses Griffith and William Roos. The discovery of a series of chalk portraits by the 18th century Irish artist Hugh Douglas Hamilton led into an exploration of the Irish market at what seemed like the worst possible time. However, one was sold to the state for Castletown House, Co. Kildare and others entered private collections in both Ireland and England, demonstrating the truth of the old art-market saying that the best will always find a market.
The nature of dealing in this sort of material, particularly the need for minimal exposure and discretion, means most of these pictures do not appear on this website. This makes our database of clients' interests all the more important and we would encourage anyone with particular 'wants' to register them with us.
The nature of dealing in this sort of material, particularly the need for minimal exposure and discretion, means most of these pictures do not appear on this website. This makes our database of clients' interests all the more important and we would encourage anyone with particular 'wants' to register them with us.