Llanberis

Llanberis

1813
John Linnell
1792-1882
Black chalk and white chalk on moderately thick, slightly textured, blue-gray wove paper
4 1/2 x 6 1/2 inches (11.4 x 16.5 cm)

John Linnell studied under John Varley, working outdoors in various mediums as did his teacher, whose view of Llyn Dinas is displayed nearby. Linnell’s sensitive studies contrast with the dramatic mountain scenes by other members of the Old Watercolour Society. He rejected sublime and picturesque conventions, which he thought concealed a lack of ingenuity, approaching Wales with the same straightforwardness as he did scenes in London. He influenced artists including Samuel Palmer, who married Linnell’s daughter. Although slight, this sketch is highly evocative of the landscape near Llanberis, a slate-quarrying area on the shore of Llyn Peris. Linnell powerfully conveys the openness of the Welsh skies and mountain ranges, an expansive landscape far different from the environs of Central London that he usually sketched.

B1991.14.5
Inscribed in brown ink, lower right: "Llanberis"
Yale Center for British Art, Gift of William Lamson Warren, Class of 1935