The Slate Quarries at Bron Llwyd

Despite its rural and mountainous landscapes, and the deep associations with the past that made Wales so attractive to English artists, it was an increasingly urbanized, industrial, and technologically advanced society. Smith’s unusual image of a slate quarry, its starkly jagged lines juxtaposed with the softly rolling hills in the background, recalls how important were raw materials, such as coal and slate, to industrial processes worldwide.