This fine painting dates from the very end of de Loutherbourg’s career. When it was sold in these rooms in July 1939 it was accompanied by a pendant of An Old Mill on the River Severn (Lefeuvre, op. cit., p. 318, no. 295) signed and dated 1806, which allows us to date the present work.

Harlech was one of a number of castles constructed by Edward I in Snowdonia during his invasion of Wales between 1282 and 1289. Over the next few centuries the castle played an important part in several wars and by the late eighteenth century it had become a famous monument, and was an attraction for tourists and artists alike.

De Loutherbourg is likely to have based his view of Harlech on earlier drawings he made at the scene. In the collection of the National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth there is a drawing of the entrance of Harlech Castle that forms part of a larger sketchbook of famous monuments that de Loutherbourg studied in Wales as early as 1786 (ibid, p. 313, fig. 172). De Loutherbourg painted another view of Harlech Castle that was exhibited in the Royal Academy in 1801 alongside a pendant of Conway Castle.


Post Lot Text
This lot is offered without reserve and will be sold to the highest bidder regardless of the pre-sale estimate.