Landscape: Harlech Castle

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  • About the work
    Location
    Country: Luxembourg
    City: Luxembourg
    Place: British Embassy

    In the county of Gwynedd, north-west Wales, two men (one on horseback) follow a herd of cattle towards Harlech Castle, seen in the distance. Beyond the castle a rough sea can be made out, above which is an ominous, cloudy sky.

    Artist, David Cox the younger, is better known as a painter in watercolours, rather than oil. Indeed the entry on Cox in the 'Oxford Dictionary of National Biography' states: ‘there is no evidence that he experimented with oils’. If the attribution of this work is correct, this is the only known example of his work in the medium. Cox painted several watercolour views showing similar scenes of Harlech Castle.

  • About the artist
    David Cox the younger was born in Dulwich, south-east London, the son of the more famous David Cox the Elder (1783-1859), one of the most gifted of English landscape painters. As a result, his career was largely pre-destined, although he spent a brief time in the Navy. He accompanied his father on many sketching tours, including visits to Holland and Belgium in 1826. He first exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1827 and assisted his father in his teaching practice until 1841, when he took over the business. Like his father, he drew much of his inspiration from North Wales, although he also painted landscapes of Scotland, the Lake District, the Home Counties and Devon.
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  • Details
    Title
    Landscape: Harlech Castle
    Date
    Medium
    Oil on canvas
    Dimensions
    height: 59.70 cm, width: 85.50 cm
    Acquisition
    Purchased from Agnew's, July 1954
    Inscription
    None visible
    Provenance
    With Agnew’s Gallery, London; from whom purchased in July 1954
    GAC number
    2811