History

The Davies Sisters of Gregynog

The frontispiece to The stealing of the mare (1930), the work of Robert Maynard.

One of the outstanding aspects of the Davies sisters' involvement in the arts was the creation of the Gregynog Press. This was the only component of the arts and crafts scheme planned for Gregynog Hall to be implemented, beginning production in 1922. The first book, Poems by George Herbert, was published a year later, the last being published in 1940.

The Gregynog Press, like other private presses of the time, produced high quality books in limited editions. Such books were usually superbly printed on handmade paper, using hand presses or small letterpress machinery. Many of the greatest wood engravers of the twentieth century were commissioned to produce illustrations for these books.

The sisters already possessed books from some of the finest private press productions of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, such as those from the Kelmscott and Ashendene presses.

Staff

One of the specially bound copies of the Loyal Address to King George V on the formal opening of the National Museum of Wales on the 21 April 1927.

At its peak, the Press employed seventeen staff. Most of the general workforce in the composing room and the bindery was Welsh and local to Gregynog. The artistic staff came mainly from England and Scotland.

The Gregynog Press Board had three aims in the production of fine books: to print books in the Welsh language, to publish some of the best examples of Anglo-Welsh literature and to publish translations of Welsh works.

From the 1930s the subject matter was more varied. Of the forty-two books, eight were in Welsh, while a further eleven had a Welsh connection. It is this attention to Welsh material that was one of the distinguishing features of the Press.

Loyal Address of the King

The fables of Esope

(1932). Agnes Miller Parker's wood engravings for this book, and XXI Welsh gypsy folk-tales (1933), established her as one of the greatest wood engravers of the twentieth century.

One of the more handsome productions was for Amgueddfa Cymru, and undertaken at a few weeks notice. This was the printing of the Loyal Address read at the formal opening of the Museum on 21st April 1927 by King George V, accompanied by Queen Mary. A number of copies were bound in blue levant morocco, decorated in gilt.

Printing

Illustrated page of Psalm XC from Psalmau Dafydd (1929)

The first 'Press' book, Poems by George Herbert, was printed on an Albion hand press. Most of the printing at Gregynog was done on the less labour-intensive Victoria, although William McCance, the second controller of the Press, used the Albion to print his first book, John Milton's Comus, in 1931.

The first four books were restricted to a single typeface (Kennerley), but soon it became possible to use a range of types. A Gregynog type was made, but it was only used for one book (Eros and Psyche, 1935).

The paper used at Gregynog was handmade. From 1927 to aid the process of printing this was done on dampened paper, a widely used technique.

The outstanding quality of the printing of the letterpress and the wood engravings was largely due to Herbert Hodgson, printer from 1927 until 1936.

Wood Engravings

Illustration from The story of the red-deer (1935/6), a children's book, which was the only book produced at Gregynog where the illustrations were printed in colour.

Some of the finest books ever illustrated with wood engravings were printed in Britain between the two world wars. The Press played a major part in this era. In the 1930s, the Gregynog Press saw one of the most outstanding periods of book illustration in Britain, with the sensuous engravings of Blair Hughes-Stanton and the intricate ones of Agnes Miller Parker.

A small number of external artists were commissioned to prepare engravings, one of the best known of whom was David Jones; his two engravings were printed in Llyfr y Pregeth-wr, the Book of Ecclesiastes.

Bindings

Illustrated capital from The stealing of the mare (1930)

The Gregynog Press was unique amongst private presses in that the binding of the books was seen as being as important as the printing. Up to 1935 each title was bound in buckram cloth or marbled paper, with one in vellum, but a small number of 'specials', were bound in full leather, of varying colours and designs.

Almost all the specials were bound by Fisher, who is recognised as one of the greatest bookbinders of the twentieth century. His versatility is shown at its best in the implementation of the designs prepared by McCance and Hughes-Stanton, notably for The Fables of Esope, The Revelation of Saint John the Divine and The Lamentations of Jeremiah. Other 'specials' were designed by the artistic staff including Maynard and Hughes-Stanton.

Images: Gwasg Gregynog/Gregynog Press

Gwendoline Davies visited the damaged and largely empty French city of Verdun on 9 and 10 March 1917, where she acquired this postcard image as a souvenir. Private collection (Lord Davies)

The First World War had a profound effect on the lives of Gwendoline and Margaret Davies, two sisters from mid Wales whose gifts and bequests completely transformed the range and quality of Wales's national art collection.

They lost much-loved relatives and served with the Red Cross in France, seeing the destruction first hand. They were deeply conscious of the horrors experienced by both British and French soldiers, and shocked at the suffering of civilian refugees.

While their brother David flung himself into the cause of international peace, the sisters hoped to repair the lives of ex-soldiers traumatized by the war, through education in the crafts and through music. Out of this grew the idea of Gregynog, as a centre for the arts, and for the discussion of social problems.

Bringing Refugee Artists to Wales

On 4 August 1914 Germany invaded Belgium, precipitating the First World War. Over a million Belgians fled their homes.

The Davies family decided that Belgian artists should be brought to Wales, where they could work in safety, and inspire the country's art students. Major Burdon-Evans, their agent, and their friend Thomas Jones journeyed to Belgium where they assembled a group of ninety-one refugees, including the sculptor George Minne, and the painters Valerius de Saedeleer and Gustave van de Woestyne and their families.

All three artists were to spend the rest of the war as refugees, largely dependent on the Davies family for support. While their impact on the arts in Wales was limited, the work of all three was to be profoundly influenced by their Welsh exile.

The Sisters in France, 1916–1918

Initially the sisters undertook charitable work at home in connection with the war. They were keen to do more 'in the way of helping', but few women managed to go out to France. One way of doing so was to volunteer through the London Committee of the French Red Cross.

There was little provision in the French army for the welfare of the ordinary soldier, and the Committee sent women to operate canteens at railway stations, hospitals and transit camps.

In July 1916 Gwendoline was posted to a transit camp near Troyes. Margaret joined the canteen there in June 1917, and her journals record their lives at this period.

The sisters were deeply moved by the stoicism of the ordinary soldiers of the French army and by the suffering of exhausted, sick, and hungry refugees.

Wartime collecting

The sisters sometimes managed to add to their art collection during the First World War. Although wartime travel in France was difficult, trips to Paris on Red Cross business provided Gwendoline with opportunities to visit the Bernheim-Jeune gallery.

She bought a Daumier and a Carrière there in April 1917, and paintings by Renoir, Manet and Monet in December. In February 1918 she bought her two celebrated landscapes by Cézanne, The François Zola Dam and Provençal Landscape, which are among her most important and far-sighted purchases.

In February 1916, Gwendoline Davies spent £2,350 on ten oils and a drawing by Augustus John. Both she and Margaret went on to acquire more works by John, and they collected the work of no other artist on this scale.

Gwendoline was determined that the work of Augustus John be seen at Amgueddfa Cymru, later placing several of her own purchases on loan to the Museum.

Guide to the paintings

Paul Cézanne

(1839–1906), Provençal Landscape, oil on canvas, about 1887–8

Bought by Gwendoline Davies with Cézanne's The François Zola Dam in 1918, this picture cost half as much, £1,250. It was probably painted at his family's property outside Aix-en-Provence. Full of the shimmering colour of the South of France where the sisters had holidayed in 1913–14, it must have seemed a world away from war-time Paris in winter.

Amgueddfa Cymru (Bequest of Gwendoline Davies, 1951) NMW A 2438.

Paul Cézanne

(1839–1906), The François Zola Dam, oil on canvas, about 1879

This landscape is one of Gwendoline Davies's greatest pictures, bought in Paris for £2,500 in February 1918. The Troyes canteen was closed for repairs. She was in the city, then under intermittent German bombardment, on Red Cross business. She may have seen it on a previous visit, as in January Margaret had translated from the French the art dealer Ambroise Vollard's anecdotal account of Cézanne's life. Together with Provençal Landscape acquired with it, this was one of the first Cézannes to enter a British collection.

Amgueddfa Cymru (Bequest of Gwendoline Davies, 1951) NMW A 2439.

Camille Pissarro

(1831–1903), Sunset, the Port of Rouen (Steamboats), oil on canvas, 1898

Margaret Davies bought several works by Pissarro at the Leicester Galleries, London, in June 1920. This was the most expensive at £550. The previous year she had worked at a canteen in Rouen run by the Scottish Churches Huts Committee.

Amgueddfa Cymru (Bequest of Margaret Davies, 1963) NMW A 2492.

Williams-Wynn of Wynnstay

Sir Watkin Williams Wynn (1693-1749) - 1740, oil on canvas. 76.2 x 63.2 cm

The Williams-Wynn family of Wynnstay in Denbighshire emerged as one of Wales's wealthiest in the early 18th century, a status they were to retain for over two hundred years.

Several members of the family had an interest in the arts, and Sir Watkin Williams-Wynn (1749-1789), 4th baronet, was to be one of Wales's greatest patrons of the visual arts and music. Much of his collection is now housed at Amgueddfa Cymru.

'The great Sir Watkin'

Sir Watkin Williams-Wynn (1693—1749), 3rd baronet, was the greatest landowner in Wales during the 1730s and 1740s, and a national leader of the Tory party in the House of Commons.

He was the grandson of the politician Sir William Williams (1633/4—1700) who had acquired estates in Denbighshire and Shropshire. However, much of his great wealth was not passed down from his farther, but was generated by to a series of fortunate inheritances from female relations.

In 1719 he inherited the Wynnstay estate in Denbighshire, together with other lands in Caernarfon and Merioneth from his mother's cousin, Sir John Wynn.

In 1715 he had married the younger daughter of Edward Vaughan of Llwydiarth, and by 1725 the death of his wife's parents and older sister had brought him further estates in Montgomery, Denbigh, and Merioneth.

He now owned over 100,000 acres, worth between £15,000 and £20,000 a year, which also gave him great influence over parliamentary elections.

On the death of his wife Ann Vaughan in May 1748, Wynn married his god-daughter Frances Shakerley (1717—1803). Their son, also Sir Watkin Williams-Wynn, and the 4th baronet, was born in April 1749.

Wynn, who was known as 'the great Sir Watkin' and 'the Prince of Wales', was killed in a hunting accident in September 1749.

There are two portraits of 'the great Sir Watkin' in the collections of Amgueddfa Cymru . One of these is the work of Thomas Hudson a fashionable London portraitist who produced polished formal likenesses.

The other is a pastel by William Hoare of Bath, and one of a group of pictures commissioned by Wynn's associate Lord Lichfield.

Wealth and cultural sophistication

Candlestick made in 1734 by the French protestant silversmith Lewis Pantin in the newly fashionable rococo style.

Two pieces of silver also reflect the wealth and cultural sophistication of Wynnstay in his time. These are a pair of large candlesticks, and a massive tripod stand for a tea kettle.

The candlesticks were made in London in 1734 by the French protestant silversmith Lewis Pantin, and are chased and cast with flowers, shells and scrolls —in the newly fashionable rococo style. They formed part of a set of four and are listed in an inventory of silver made on Sir Watkin's death.

A small amount of silver purchased by the family in 1720 survives as an extraordinary rarity as only a handful of these pieces of silver furniture have escaped being melted down for reuse.

Ornamental silver cup and cover

Silver Cup and Cover, Paul Crespin, 1733

Owning and displaying a large silver cup and cover was a mark of wealth and status for centuries in Britain. By 1700 such cups were no longer drinking vessels. They became entirely ornamental and a focus for the skills of their designers and makers.

William Lewis Hughes

Sir Thomas Lawrence's (1769 - 1830) portrait of Thomas Williams (1737-1802) oil on canvas; 127.5 x 102.1 cm.

A hundred years later, a particularly splendid cup made in 1733, and now in Amgueddfa Cymru, was the prized possession of one of the wealthiest men in Wales, William Lewis Hughes (1767—1835), of Kinmel Park, Denbighshire. This tells us something about a growing taste at the time for antiques, rather than the new.

The cup bears the mark of Paul Crespin, together with London marks for 1733-4. Crespin was born in 1694 into a French Protestant family. He set up business in London in 1720, and although he was recorded as bankrupt in 1747, he seems to have continued working there until 1759.

Crespin was one of the most cosmopolitan and sophisticated makers of his day. As early as 1724 he made a "curious silver vessel for bathing, which weighed about 6030 ounces" (now lost) for the King of Portugal.

He had many important clients, and his masterpiece is perhaps the celebrated "Neptune" centrepiece of 1741 in the Royal Collection, an elaborate rococo object made for Frederick, Prince of Wales.

A large silver cup

Partly because of the wealth derived from the Parys copper mine and partly because of the energetic personality of Edward Hughes, the family was to become spectacularly rich.

The cup is exceptionally large, standing 14 inches high and weighing over 150 troy ounces — a cup and cover of 1731 by Crespin's associate Abraham Buteaux and described as "large" in 1749 weighed only 94 ounces.

It is ornamented entirely in the newly fashionable rococo manner, and would have seemed quite novel. The foliage and vine decoration also appear on a pair of wine coolers made by Crespin for the Duke of Marlborough in the same year, and the double scroll handles appear a little later on cups by George Wickes, Paul de Lamerie, John Le Sage and John White.

Coat of arms

The arms of William Lewis Hughes of Kinmel. Note the arms of its original owner have been erased.

The engraving is of very high quality, remaining crisp, with little sign of surface wear. The arms of its original owner have been erased, presumably because the cup came on the market in the early 19th century. Its surface may originally have been white silver, rather than gilt. The present, rather brassy gilding is contemporary with the later armorials that can be dated to around 1830. It is interesting that the cup was 'improved' and resold in this way.

The cup's new owner was William Lewis Hughes of Kinmel. It probably came into his possession before he was raised to the peerage as Lord Dinorben in 1831, as his arms, which are engraved on both sides of the cup, have what appears to be an added Baron's coronet and lack the heraldic supporters that he was to adopt as a peer.

Parys copper mine

Junction of Mona and Parys Copper Mine as depicted in 1790.

Hughes's mother was the niece of William Lewis of Llysdulas, Anglesey. With her husband the Rev. Edward Hughes she became heir of the Llysdulas estate, which included one side of Mynydd Parys. Partly because of the wealth derived from the Parys copper mine and partly because of the energetic personality of Edward Hughes, the family was to become spectacularly rich.

The Copper King

The cup engraved ornament is of very high quality, remaining crisp, with little sign of surface wear.

William Lewis Hughes, the first Lord Dinorben, was colonel of the Anglesey Militia and MP for Wallingford from 1802 to 1831. From 1819 his London home was Bute House, South Audley Street. Edward and William Hughes were business partners of Thomas Williams, the 'copper king', whose portrait by Lawrence is also in the collections of Amgueddfa Cymru.

The cup was later owned by the Edwardian financier and philanthropist Sir Ernest Cassel (1852-1921), and was acquired by the Museum in 2005 with the support of the National Heritage Memorial Fund and the Art Fund.