Philippe-Jacques de Loutherbourg, 1740–1812, French, active in Britain (from 1771)
Title:
Snowdon from Capel Curig
Date:
1787
Materials & Techniques:
Oil on canvas
Dimensions:
52 7/8 x 79 inches (134.3 x 200.7 cm)
Inscription(s)/Marks/Lettering:
Signed and dated on boulder, lower center: "P.I. De Loutherbourg | 1787"
Credit Line:
Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection
Copyright Status:
Public Domain
Accession Number:
B1977.14.49
Classification:
Paintings
Collection:
Paintings and Sculpture
Subject Terms:
boulders | mountains | hills | river | men | national park | costume | village | landscape | horse (animal) | dogs (animals)
Associated Places:
United Kingdom | Wales | Llanberis | Snowdon | Cymru | Aberconwy and Colwyn | Capel Curig
Currently On View:
Not on view
Exhibition History:
In a New Light: 500 Years of British Art (Yale Center for British Art, 2025-04-01 - 2026-01-30)Philippe - Jacques de Loutherbourg (1740 - 1812) (Musee de Beaux-Arts, Strasbourg, 2012-11-17 - 2013-02-18)Canaletto to Constable: Paintings of Town and Country from the Yale Center for British Art (Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, 1998-02-08 - 1998-04-26)Canaletto to Constable: Paintings of Town and Country from the Yale Center for British Art (The Grand Rapids Art Museum, 1999-10-22 - 2000-01-02)Canaletto to Constable: Paintings of Town and Country from the Yale Center for British Art (Ferrara Galleries of Modern & Contemporary Art, 2001-02-25 - 2001-05-20)Fairest Isle - The Appreciation of British Scenery 1750-1850 (Yale Center for British Art, 1989-04-12 - 1989-06-25)Presences of Nature - British Landscape 1780-1830 (Yale Center for British Art, 1982-10-20 - 1983-02-27)The Pursuit of Happiness - A View of Life in Georgian England (Yale Center for British Art, 1977-04-19 - 1977-09-18)
Publications:
Peter Bishop, The Mountains of Snowdonia in Art, the Visualisation of Mountain Scenery from the Mid-Eighteenth Century to the Present Day, Gwasg Carreg Gwalch, Llanrwst, Wales, p. 35, fig. 7, ND492 .B57 2015 (LC) (YCBA)Canaletto to Constable : paintings of town and country from the Yale Center for British Art, , Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, Conn., 1998, pp. 15, 89, pl. 32, ND1354.4 Y25 1998 (YCBA)Malcolm Cormack, Concise Catalogue of Paintings in the Yale Center for British Art, Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, CT, 1985, pp. 150-151, N590.2 .A83 (YCBA)Megan Cullen, Fairest isle : the appreciation of British scenery, 1750-1850 : [exhibition] label copy. Yale Center for British Art, April 12-June 25, 1989., , Yale Center for British Art, [New Haven, 1989, p. 35, no. 72, ND1354.4 F351 1989 (YCBA)Catherine M. Gordon, British paintings Hogarth to Turner, Frederick Warne, London, 1981, p. 42, ND466 .G67 (YCBA)Louis Hawes, Presences of Nature : British Landscape, 1780-1830, , Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, CT, 1982, pp. 11, 115, no. I.6, pl. 7, ND1354.4 H38 (YCBA)Olivier Lefeuvre, Philippe-Jacques de Loutherbourg : 1740-1812, , Arthena, Paris, 2012, pp. 42, 44, 97, 121, 267, cat. no. 194, NJ18.L928 A12 L44 2012 OVERSIZE (YCBA)Musee des Beaux Arts de Strasbourg, Loutherbourg ( Strasbourg, 1740 - Londres, 1812 ):, tourments et chime`res : livret de l'exposition , Musees de la vie de Strasbourg, Strasbourg, 2012, p. 15, V 1392 (YCBA)J. H. Plumb, The pursuit of happiness : a view of life in Georgian England : an exhibition selected from the Paul Mellon collection, , Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, 1977, pp. 33, 76, no. 18, N6766 Y34 1977 (YCBA)Duncan Robinson, Fairest isle : the appreciation of British scenery, 1750-1850, , Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, 1989, pp. 10-11, no. 72, ND1354.4 F35 (YCBA)
Gallery Label:
At the Royal Academy exhibition of 1787 de Loutherbourg, a French painter who lived in England for most of his life, exhibited three views of Snowdon, of which this is one. The highest peak in Wales, Snowdon was a popular tourist destination in the eighteenth century, as it continues to be today. One of the most famous views of Snowdon was from the tiny village of Capel Curig, pictured in the right middle-ground of the painting. The group of figures in the foreground, with their simple clothing, allude to the relative poverty of the area. This social commentary might have appealed to the painting’s nineteenth-century owner James Kitson, first Baron Airedale. Kitson was head of the Airedale Foundry in Leeds, England, one of the world’s largest producers of railway locomotives. A powerful members of the Liberal party in Leeds, Kitson spearheaded numerous charities to alleviate poverty, and 4,000 working people lined the route to his memorial service. Gallery label for installation of YCBA collection, 2008