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In this small oil sketch, figures in boats are sailing down the river Wye under a cloud-filled sky. The River Wye was a popular destination for artists, writers and visitors to Wales, and became even more so after the publication of William Gilpin’s Observations on the River Wye in 1782. Gilpin claimed the river was an example of the Picturesque, which he described as ‘the kind of beauty which is agreeable in a picture’ - and soon after the area became a hot-spot for tourists taking part in fashionable Picturesque tours. Thomas Jones was drawn to the Wye before Gilpin’s ideas became mainstream. Captivated by the river, he painted it several times, and later in life paid homage to it in a poem, Petraeia (1795). We believe Jones may have painted this sketch in 1772, while visiting his family home in Pencerrig, before he travelled to Italy. This would make it one of his earliest known paintings of the river. It is probably a composite view, made up of elements from different locations rather than one specific view. The painting was discovered and researched by Miles Wynn Cato, and the probable date and attribution to Jones was confirmed by Greg Smith, co-editor of the 2003 Thomas Jones catalogue.