On the Llugwy, near Bettws-y-coed

Signed and dated 1865; inscribed on the reverse

Board: 16 ½ x 24 ½ in / 41.9 x 62.2 cm

Provenance:

Possibly sold to Morby (art dealer) as ‘The Llugwy at Bettws-y-coed’ in 1866 for £40 (Price for a pair, together with ‘River Conway at Bettws-y-coed’).

Literature:

Artist’s ‘Records of Paintings Sold’ 1865, 1866

Ruth Wood, Benjamin Williams Leader R.A. 1831-1923: His Life and Paintings, Antique Collectors’ Club, Suffolk, 1998

In this beautiful painting Leader represented the River Llugwy rather than the River Conway, which also flows past Bettws-y-coed. The Conway is not as shallow as the Llugwy and in the summertime the latter drops to a very low level uncovering rocks, as seen in the foreground.

Leader first went to Bettws-y-coed in north Wales, a favoured location for professional and amateur artists, in 1859 and represented the rivers Llugwy, Conway and Lledr throughout his long career. This work epitomises Leader’s early style, characterised by his meticulous attention to detail as well as the overall finish of a landscape. The figures, usually sketchy within his compositions, were employed as focal devices to lead the viewer diagonally into the scene. In this landscape, one first focuses on the two foreground figures seated on the rocks then to the overhanging trees on the riverbank on the left, across to the fisherman in the middle distance and on to the bend in the river and the distant mountain range.

We are grateful to Ruth Wood MA for her assistance with the cataloguing of this work.

BENJAMIN WILLIAMS LEADER, RA

Worcester 1831 - 1923 Shere, Surrey

Born as Benjamin Williams, he added the surname Leader, his father's middle name, to distinguish himself from the Williams family. Upon abandoning a profession in engineering for art, he became a pupil at the Royal Academy in 1853. The following year he showed his first picture there, and continued to exhibit prolifically up until his death in 1923.

He achieved notable success with his painting, February Fill Dyke exhibited in 1881. It

remains one of the most famous Victorian paintings, and is a tribute to Leader's artistic talents. The Royal Academy elected him an associate in 1883, and academician in 1898. He also exhibited abroad, winning the gold medal and the legion of honour in Paris in 1889.

Leader was extremely popular in Victorian times and his work sold for high prices. Today he is recognized as one of the most accomplished Victorian landscape artists of his day. He usually chose scenes from the Midlands and the Thames valley, although he was also partial to Welsh landscapes, especially around Bettws-y-Coed.

His earlier work reflects his admiration of the Pre-Raphaelites, however, he later developed a broader, more naturalistic style. A realistic feeling of space and a lightness of atmosphere are characteristic of his work. James Dafforne, the contemporary art critic of the Art Journal, praised his work in glowing terms in 1871: ‘his style is a happy medium between excess of detail and over elaboration on the one hand, and a dash of execution on the other...we regard Mr. Leader as one of our best landscape painters.’

The work of Leader is represented in the Aberdeen Art Gallery and Museum, the Birmingham City Art Gallery, the Blackburn Museum and Art Gallery, the Towneley Hall Art Gallery, Burnley, the Bristol City Art Gallery, the Ferens Art Gallery, Kingston-upon-Hull, the Guildhall Art Gallery, the Royal Academy of Arts, the Tate Gallery and the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, the Manchester City Art Gallery, the Mappin Art Gallery, Sheffield, the Atkinson Art Gallery, Southport, the Royal Holloway and Bedford New College collection, Surrey and the Worcester City Art Gallery.