Snowdon from Llyn Nantlle, North Wales

George Fennel Robson

1832 · Graphite and watercolor with gum · Drawings and Prints

Every summer, Robson explored the wilder corners of Britain and sketched subjects he could develop into finished watercolors for London exhibitions. He completed this drawing one year before his death. Its uncluttered composition is anchored by Mount Snowdon, the highest peak in Wales, and it reflects the influence of Robson's teacher, the artist John Varley (1778-1842). Beautifully applied washes have been enlivened with a few telling details. Tones progress from a warm sunlit foreground inhabited by two shepherds to dappled, foliage-covered hills to cool shadows defining the distant mountain. The critic John Ruskin (1819-1900) wrote that Robson's finest watercolors were "serious and quiet in the highest degree [and] certain qualities of atmosphere and texture in them have never been excelled."

Artist

George Fennel Robson

Date

1832

Medium

Graphite and watercolor with gum

Department

Drawings and Prints

Credit line

Harry G. Sperling Fund, 2009