Welsh Journals

Search over 450 titles and 1.2 million pages

Cox was very fond of using figures in his land- scapes, and a favourite combination seems to have been two women and one man. Thus in this picture there are two women walking behind a horse and cart; in the previous one are two walk- ing women and a man on horseback, and on Chirk Aqueduct there are two women talking to one man. An 1840 picture is No. 267, "Welsh Shepherds," a painting on a panel very dark in tone, showing two men driving sheep over a moor. In 1844 Cox was in North Wales with an artist friend, Mr. Harry Johnson, and he made many fine studies of the scenery in the vale of Clwyd from Sir John Williams's park at Bodelwyddan, near Rhyl. From these sketches he painted two of his finest oils, of which more later. From Bodelwyddan the two artists wandered down to Bettws-y-Coed, where they remained for several weeks. As a result of this visit Cox decided to devote at least a month every year to sketching in the neighbourhood of Bettws-y-Coed, and he carried out this resolution for the rest of his life. "Near Bettws-y-Coed" (No. 1123), dated 1846, is typical of the water colours of this period. The river flows from the left foreground into the centre beneath a high bluff on the left, with large slabs of rock at the edge of the water and trees along the crest. There are other trees in the centre and on the right following the line of the river and the valley. Over the tops of the trees can be seen the mountain tops clearly defined against the summer sky. "Flint Castle" (No. 258) is one of the fruits of his wanderings in the northernmost parts of North Wales, and this has its inevitable three figures, one man seated and two standing. In 1846 Cox was at Bettws-y-Coed with an artist friend, T. N. Sherrington of Yarmouth, and Sherrington gave Cox a commission for four drawings, two large and two small. The two large ones were "The Vale of Dolwyddelan" (No. 274) and "Near Bettws-y-Coed" (No. 275), both of which are eighteen inches high and twenty-nine inches wide. The Art Gallery has two unpublished letters dated August 28th and September 3rd, 1846, re- lating to these pictures. In the first Cox says "I ought to have acknowledged the receipt of a very kind letter from you while I was at Bettws- y-Coed, but as I wished to accomplish a sketch in the Vale of Dolwyddelan as you had requested, I postponed writing until my return home. After you left me I had very bad weather for nearly the whole time, so that I made few sketches. I shall by rail to-day send off the two sketches you were so kind as commissioned me to make. I was cer- tainly fortunate in having a fine day to make h* sketch in Dolwyddelan, which I hope you will like, together with the stepping stones, one at Llyn Crafnant and one near Penmachno Mill the four I charge you nineteen pounds thus:- The two large ones £ 16 The two small ones £ 3 £ 19 I trust I have not charged too high and that they will meet with your approval." In the second lettei acknowledging the receipt of the cheque Cox expresses his delight at She:- rington's pleasure. These two large drawings were done on the rough Scotch wrapping paper which Cox first began to use in 1836. The surface was hard and firm, for the paper was made from old linen sail cloth, well bleached. Cox came across it by acci- dent and ordered a ream, which he was surprised to find weighed 280 pounds and cost £ 11. In later life he regretted he had not ordered more, for he was never able to get paper of the same good quality. This paper contained some large black specks, and Cox ingeniously added a sharp dark touch on either side of each speck and so transformed them into birds whirling about in the air. Three pictures bear dates 1849: "Bettws-y- Coed Church" (No. 252), an oil, the three figures being a man and woman talking to a grave-digger. On the back is an unfinished picture of a man driving a flock of sheep. No. 254, "Tending Sheep, Bettws-y-Coed," is a slightly larger oil which has been exhibited several times in various parts of the country, while No. 242, "Sheep Shearing," is an oil which is obviously a Welsh subject, because it features three women wearing Welsh hats. In the British Museum there is a water colour sketch by Cox of the same scene. The three other dated Cox's are Nos. 269, 1108 and 251, the first two being dated 1852 and the other 1854. No. 269 is "Penmaen Bach," 221 inches by 321 inches, which at one exhibition was labelled "Mountain Sheep" No. 1108 is a water colour measuring seven by ten inches, and is called "Bettws-y-Coed, North Wales." No. 251 is of great interest, for it is a large oil of "Rhyl Sands." It is twenty-nine inches high and fifty-three inches wide, yet more than two- thirds of the canvas is occupied by the sky, and more than a sixth by the sea, so that only one corner has any beach-but what a beach. Some of the houses on the parade are visible, and in front of a row of bathing machines are many gaily dressed holiday makers. This picture brought the artist the highest price he ever received for any work, namely £ 100, for which it was sold at Liverpool. In 1864 the same