Harlech Castle

In this work, the foreground trees and the background castle differ in style and medium. The windblown trees are wild and lush, with strokes that vary in fluidity and thickness, while the castle evokes precision and control. An optical device like a camera obscura may have been used to delineate it accurately, while the foreground may have been composed from memory, or as an expressive on-site reaction to frame the castle ruins; it is unclear which elements Varley executed on-site versus in a studio.