Craig Goch, Moel Hebog, North Wales 1797 - 1807

Cornelius Varley made this watercolour landscape, “Craig Goch, Moel Hebog, North Wales,” sometime in the early nineteenth century. Varley was part of a generation of British artists who found inspiration in the dramatic landscapes of Wales, but their representations weren't politically neutral. These images fed into a larger cultural project of defining British national identity. At the time, the British elite saw in wild landscapes a reflection of their own virtues of liberty and individualism. This aestheticization coincided with the economic exploitation of Wales and the suppression of its language and culture. Varley’s watercolour technique, with its soft washes, evokes a sense of sublime vastness. To truly understand this kind of image, we need to research not only the artist's biography but also the history of British landscape painting. We need to understand the complex social and political forces that shaped artistic production and consumption in this era.