RICHARD WILSON (1714-1782)
Penygadair - Cader Idris (892m-2,927ft)
United Kingdom (Wales)
1. In Llyn-y-Cau, Cader Idris, oil on canvas, Tate Britain
2. In The Mawddach Valley and Cader Idris, 1774, oil on canvas, Walker Art Gallery
The mountain
Penygadair or Pen-y-Gader (892m-2,927 ft ) which means Top of the Chair, is the summit of Cader Idris mountain and offers a superb panorama of mountain scenery. Cader Idris (or Cadair Idris) means 'Chair of Idris', the giant warrior poet of Welsh legend. The mountain consists of a long ridge (11km), the 19th highest mountain in Wales and the second most popular mountain in the country after Mount Snowdon. Pen-y-Gader northern face is craggy and precipitous, in contrast to the south face which slopes more gently into the broad expanse of the Dyfi estuary. There are a number of paths which lead to the summit, the Fox's Path leads directly up the mountains north face. To the north of the summit lies the very steep and craggy north face, where the cliffs drop around 200 metres (656ft). The other peaks of the ridge are Mynyyd Moel (855m- 2805ft) and Mynydd Pencoed (798m-2618ft). North of Cadair Idris lies the town of Dolgellau, a convenient base, which offers cafes, restaurants and shops. The mountain is notorious for its low cloud but on a clear day it is possible to see the mountains of the Snowdon massif and the Rhinog mountain range as well as the Lleyn Peninsula and the hills of Shropshire, the Long Mynd, the Wrekin and occasionally Ireland.
There are numerous legends about Cader Idris. Some nearby lakes are supposed to be bottomless, and anyone who sleeps on its slopes alone will supposedly awaken either a madman or a poet. The tradition of sleeping on the summit of the Mountain apparently stems from bardic traditions, where bards would sleep on the mountain in hope of inspiration.Source:
-Snowdonia official Guide
The painter
Richard Wilson was an influential Welsh landscape painter, who worked in Britain and Italy. With George Lambert he is recognized as a pioneer in British art of landscape for its own sake and was described in the Welsh Academy Encyclopedia of Wales as the "most distinguished painter Wales has ever produced and the first to appreciate the aesthetic possibilities of his country". From 1750 to 1757 Wilson was in Italy, and became a landscape painter on the advice of Francesco Zuccarelli. Painting in Italy and afterwards in Britain, he was the first major British painter to concentrate on landscape. He composed well, but saw and rendered only the general effects of nature, thereby creating a personal, ideal style influenced by Claude Lorrain and the Dutch landscape tradition. John Ruskin wrote that Wilson "paints in a manly way, and occasionally reaches exquisite tones of colour". Among Wilson's pupils was the painter Thomas Jones. His landscapes were acknowledged as an influence by Constable, John Crome and Turner.
In December 1768 Wilson became one of the founder-members of the Royal Academy. A catalogue raisonné of the artist's work is published by the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art.
Source:
- Tate Britain
