Property from an Important Private Collection
George Barret the Elder
View of Llanberis Lake and Dolbadarn Castle, with anglers on the bank
Lot Closed
December 9, 03:11 PM GMT
Estimate
40,000 - 60,000 GBP
Lot Details
Description
Property from an Important Private Collection
George Barret the Elder
Dublin 1728/32 - 1784 Paddington
View of Llanberis Lake and Dolbadarn Castle, with anglers on the bank
oil on canvas
unframed: 101.3 x 125.8 cm.; 39⅞ x 49½ in.
framed: 122.7 x 148.5 cm.; 48¼ x 58½ in.
Anonymous sale, New York, Christie's, 10 October 1990, lot 184;
With Simon Dickinson, London.
Dolbardarn Castle was once a key part of the defences of the ancient kingdom of Gwynedd, guarding Snowdonia's Llanberis Pass, the strategic route inland from Caernarfon to the upper Conwy Valley. It is believed to have been built by Llywelyn the Great (1173–1240) in the late 12th or early 13th century.
George Barret was born in Ireland and attended the Dublin Society's School. He moved to London in 1763 and travelled extensively around England, painting topographical and estate views, as well as idealised landscapes imbued with a sense of the Sublime. The present painting is testament to a trip to Wales, probably undertaken in the late-1770s towards the end of his life, and in its composition and rendering of the warm evening light, reflects the inspiration that Barret took from the most celebrated Welsh landscape painter of the 18th century, Richard Wilson.