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Copper mines on the Parys Mountain

SMITH, John "Warwick" ('Italian' Smith)

This watercolour scene reveals both the natural beauty on the surface of the Parys Mountain in Anglesey, as well as its exposed underbelly – a source of raw wealth in the form of copper ore that was systematically mined from it. The workers in the image, busy excavating copper, as much a result of the landscape as the copper itself in many ways. It begs the question what could be more Welsh than the landscape of Wales, and what could this reveal about Black history. Perhaps it reveals a defining feature of it - how well it is hidden until you point it out.

The copper mined here was shipped out, first to the ports at Swansea, and then sold around the world, even being used to sheath the hulls of Nelson’s naval ships. Beyond ships, which in themselves played a role in exercising colonial powers over others, copper was also used for the copper plates that were used to boil sugar, grown and harvested by enslaved Africans on plantations across the Caribbean islands, as well as various copper artefacts that were traded from enslaved Africans across West Africa.

This work is included in the PITCH BLACK digital Black History tours of the National Museum Wales collections.

Copper mines on the Parys Mountain
Image: © Amgueddfa Cymru - Museum Wales
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Collection Area

Art

Item Number

NMW A 3199

Creation/Production

SMITH, John "Warwick"

Acquisition

Gift, 1932
Given by Capt. Leonard Twiston Davies

Measurements

Height (cm): 23.8
Width (cm): 31.8
Height (in): 9
Width (in): 12

Techniques

watercolour and pencil on paper on card
drawings and watercolours
Fine Art - works on paper

Material

watercolour
Paper
board

Location

In store

Categories

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