Publisher/Manufacturer: R.Blamire, London Series title: A Tour through parts of Wales
1794 Aquatint with etching, hand coloured in sepia watercolour, on cream wove Whatman paper
127 x 186 mm. Miss E.C.Livesey, Southsea, Portsmouth?
Book illustration from William Sotheby's 'Tour through parts of Wales' of 1794. The poem not only celebrates the natural sights of Wales but also its architecture. Caernarfon Castle stands on the mainland side of the Menai Straits and its beauty captivated Sotheby, 'the slender turret springs light as the plumage from the warrior's helm'. He also takes the opportunity to introduce important aspects of Welsh history. The conquest of Edward I in 1277 is condemned as it is claimed the English mocked the Welsh legends of Brutus and Merlin from these battlements
Picturesque view of Caernarfon Castle; foreground, river / estuary with four figures and an oarsman aboard a rowing boat (ferry?); middleground, moored sailing boat, figures, large custom? house, gateway through a town wall and a large castle with turrets and slit windows; background, houses and hills. Dust-ground aquatint with etched roulette lines and sepia watercolour wash. No evident plate mark. Evidence of a 'Whatman' watermark
