Dinas Bran from Llangollen

Richard Wilson's Dinas Bran from Llangollen from around 1770-71, at the Yale Center for British Art, depicts the ruins of the medieval Welsh castle above the Dee valley. Wilson's Welsh landscapes represented his most personal artistic achievement, applying the classical landscape conventions he had learned in Italy to the scenery of his native Wales. The combination of ancient ruins, dramatic mountainous terrain, and atmospheric light creates images that anticipate the Romantic landscape movement.

Wilson renders the ruined castle and the Dee valley with his characteristic warm, golden palette and measured composition. The classical structure of framing trees and atmospheric recession transforms the Welsh topography into a vision of timeless, poetic landscape.