Artwork
Welsh landscape with animals

Welsh landscape with animals is an oil painting by the British Romanticist artist Unknown. It dates from 1818 and is held in the collection of the National Library of Wales. The oil painting presents a quiet Welsh countryside scene.
About this work
Subject & Meaning
The painting portrays a traditional Welsh pastoral scene featuring domestic animals such as cattle, sheep, and a horse alongside a prominent church building, river, and fisherman, symbolizing the harmony of rural life and spiritual community within the Welsh landscape. The animals function as key iconographic elements representing abundance, domesticity, and the connection between humanity and the natural world, reflecting 19th-century Romantic ideals of nature’s pastoral beauty and moral order. Measured at 65.5 cm by 86.5 cm, the oil-on-canvas work is housed in the National Library of Wales and was acquired in 1994 from Christie's, underscoring its significance as a representative example of British School landscape painting from 1818.
Technique & Style
It was painted in 1818 and acquired by the National Library of Wales through purchase at Christie's in 1994, with its accession recorded as PG05236.
Oil on canvas, measuring 65.5 cm in height by 86.5 cm in width, depicts a Welsh landscape featuring cattle, sheep, a fisher, a river, a horse, and a church building. The work belongs to the British School, is classified as a landscape painting within the genre, and shows animals as its main subject. It was painted in 1818 and acquired by the National Library of Wales through purchase at Christie's in 1994, with its accession recorded as PG05236.
History & Provenance
The painting was created in 1818, as indicated by its internal documentation and the National Library of Wales record.
It entered the collection of the National Library of Wales as part of its framed works of art holdings. The work was acquired by purchase at Christie’s in 1994 and assigned the accession number PG05236.
The painting is held by the National Library of Wales, where it is catalogued as PG05236.
It entered the collection in 1994 through purchase at Christie’s, as recorded in the Library’s framed works accession file.
The work has not been recorded in any subsequent public exhibitions according to the cited sources.
Overview
The oil painting presents a quiet Welsh countryside scene. A modest church sits amid rolling hills and trees, while a calm river meanders in the foreground. Cattle and sheep graze on the verdant meadow, creating a harmonious rural tableau that invites quiet contemplation.
Context
Executed in oil, the work reflects a 19th‑century interest in regional landscapes and rural genre scenes prevalent in British art. Its focus on a specific Welsh locale aligns with contemporary efforts to document local topography and everyday life through a naturalistic visual language.
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