Aberdulais Mill, Glamorganshire, Wales

This watercolour, probably painted in 1796-7, is based on a drawing on page 6 of Turner's South Wales Sketchbook, made during a tour of South Wales in June and July 1795. On the flyleaf of the sketchbook is a list of 'Order'd Drawings', among them one of 'Aberdulais Mill for Mr. Mitchell' with an X against the entry to indicate that the commission had been executed. On page 49 of the same sketchbook Turner noted, 'Aberdillais [sic] Mill - Mr. Mitchell's - size of Landilio Bridge' - presumably the Llandillio Bridge and Dinevor Castle, exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1796, no. 656, and now in the National Museum of Wales, of exactly the same size as this watercolour (Wilton 1979, p. 315, no. 140, illustrated; exhibited 1984, loc.cit., no. 39, illustrated). The preliminary drawing is reproduced by Finberg (op. cit., pl. LXXXII), and he adds 'Turner seems to have made a watercolour of this subject for Mr. Mitchell but I have not been able to trace it'. Aberdulais is a village in Glamorganshire, two and three-quarter miles north east of Neath. Turner's 1795 tour was the third he made in Wales but the first to be thoroughly prepared. He planned his itinerary and took two sketchbooks of different sizes, a small one for rapid sketches and the larger one, already mentioned, for more developed drawings, sometimes with colour. As in this case he was hoping for commissions, showing the larger sketchbook to potential clients on his return. He was also seeking material for exhibition, and drawings made on this tour were Llandillo Bridge and Landaff Cathedral, exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1796, Ewenny Priory in 1797 and, later, the two watercolours of Pembroke Castle, exhibited in 1801 and 1806.