Rowland Jones, a reputed Welsh Bard, aged 90
possibly Richard Wilson (Penegoes 1714 - Mold 1782)
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
1757 (signed and dated)
Materials
Oil on canvas
Measurements
1020 x 890 x 60 mm
Place of origin
Wales
Order this imageCollection
Chirk Castle, Wrexham
NT 1171106
Summary
Oil painting on canvas, Rowland Jones, a reputed Welsh Bard, aged 90, possibly Richard Wilson, RA (Penegoes 1714 – Mold 1782), signed, inscribed and dated centre right Rowland Jones. | AETATIS SUAE | LXXXX. | R. Wilson f. 1757 [or 1737 or 1747; RW in monogram, R reversed]. A half-length portrait of an old man, aged 90 according to the inscription, with a grey beard, sitting at a table with his head against his proper right hand and his left hand holding the page of an open book. He leans on another book, tied with ribbons, at bottom left. The sitter was reputedly a Welsh bard. According to the Chirk Castle accounts (23 December 1738) Richard Wilson was paid £6-16s-6d by John [Robert] Myddelton for a self-portrait drawing ('a drawing in a Gilt frame of myself') but it is unlikely he would have painted a portrait like this in 1757.
Full description
Associated with Chirk Castle
Provenance
At Chirk in 18th century when the Myddeltons were patrons of the artist; with some of the contents, in 1978, that were acquired along with Chirk Castle from Lt-Col Ririd Myddelton (1902–1988) by the National Land Fund and handed, on loan for 99 years, to the Secretary of State for Wales (In 1981 Chirk was transferred into the ownership of the National Trust); given to Guy Charles Myddelton from Captain David Myddelton in 2010; on loan to the Trust from Guy Charles Myddelton Purchased by the National Trust from Mr Guy Myddelton in 2023.
Credit line
Chirk Castle, The Myddelton Collection (National Trust)
Marks and inscriptions
Centre right: Rowland Jones. | AETATIS SUAE | LXXXX. | R.Wilson f. 1757 [or 1737 or 1747; RW in monogram, R reversed]
Makers and roles
possibly Richard Wilson (Penegoes 1714 - Mold 1782), publisher
References
Chirk Castle 2001 Timothy Sammons Ltd, London, Inventory and Valuation of selected chattels at Chirk Castle. Offered by private treaty to the National Trust, 2001, p. 17, no.328 Pictures from Welsh Private Collections, exh. cat., National Museum of Wales, Cardiff (Arts Council for Wales), 1951, 63 Art Treasures, Wrexham, 1876, 407