Welsh Landscape, Denbigh, Flintshire

The subject of this work, which bears no title or inscription of its own, is identifiable on the basis of its close correspondence with a mixed media drawing, signed and dated 1940 and entitled ‘Denbigh’, which featured in the exhibition John Piper, Early Oils and Watercolours at Spink and Son, London July 1996 (no. 6, ‘Denbigh Castle, Clywd). The exhibited mixed-media drawing was aptly described as a ‘soft, rusty coloured’ view, and both its formal characteristics and conservative palette seem to have been influenced by the character of aquatint prints and watercolours made by early nineteenth century illustrators. The present oil, on the other hand, marks a crucial step forward in Piper’s style and palette and its appearance is typical of the artist’s trademark works of 1940-42, offering both the dark, dramatic skies and the intense, non-naturalistic and contrasting colours associated with his classic wartime pieces. The painting nevertheless has its roots in the artist’s established antiquarian interests. In around 1939, Piper had obtained a volume of aquatints by Edward Pugh (1763-1813), entitled Cambria Depicta (‘Wales Illustrated’) and several of Pugh’s subjects, including Denbigh, are revisited in some of the paintings and drawings Piper made in the immediate pre-war and early wartime period. Frances Spalding writes that Cambria Depicta was indeed ‘a book John knew well’, and ‘John visited many of the sites Pugh illustrated or described’ (John Piper; Myfanway Piper, Lives in Art, Oxford, 2011, pp. 151, 269). Edward Pugh’s work was recently documented by John Barrell in his book titled Edward Pugh of Ruthin, 1763-1816: a Native Artist (Cardiff, 2013).

We are very grateful to Rev. Dr Stephen Laird FSA for preparing this catalogue entry.