The Valley of the Dee, with Chester in the Distance

Richard Wilson painted The Valley of the Dee, with Chester in the Distance around 1761, one of his finest Welsh landscapes combining classical compositional organization with the specific quality of Welsh light and topography. Wilson's Welsh landscapes were among his most personal works: the country where he was born gave him subjects he could paint with both the observational intimacy of a native and the compositional authority of the Italian classical tradition he had absorbed. The wide valley, the river, and the distant city of Chester are organized in the manner of Claude's Italian landscapes, but the specific quality of the British light and the character of the Welsh hills give the work a distinct national identity.

The composition follows classical landscape conventions with a repoussoir of trees framing a sweeping valley vista. Wilson's handling of atmospheric distance and golden light reveals his debt to Claude Lorrain and Gaspard Dughet.