Bronze Age Gold from Wales

The Carneddau are the mountains to the east of Pencerrig in Radnorshire, the family home of Thomas Jones. They are distinguished by their sharp, ridged outline. Jones was devoted to the landscape around his home and wrote of ‘distant mountains melting into air’. From 1794-5 Jones produced a group of seven watercolour views of the Carneddau. This view is taken from Jones’ home at Pencerrig, close to a clump of oak trees looking southeast towards the Carneddau mountains. It was painted around 1775. The execution of the foreground is somewhat schematic, but the mist on the hilltops and the sunlight on the fields to the right are skilfully and atmospherically observed. Bracken appears to be turning brown on the hills.