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
128 x 188 mm. Miss E.C.Livesey, Southsea, Portsmouth?
Book illustration from William Sotheby's 'Tour through parts of Wales' of 1794. Sotheby describes the natural flow of this scene in the Rhondda Valley, with its rolling hills tumbling down to the flooded River Taff as it winds its way down to Cardiff. Smith captures the author's vision of the Taff but Sotheby was also impressed by the 'genius' of the 'unrivalled arch'
Picturesque landscape with Pontypridd bridge; foreground, bushes and a river with a sand bar; middleground, trees, figures with three horses and a road which crosses a single arch stone bridge; background cliffs and wooded hills; sky, cumulus. Dust-ground aquatint with etching and sepia watercolour wash. The paper has a watermark which reads 'J.WHATM[AN]'