The Carnarvonshire Coast. Benjamin Williams Leader (1831-1923). Oil on board, 9 x 13 inches. Signed and dated 1888, labelled. Courtesy the Maas Gallery, London. Click on image to enlarge it.

“All through his life, but especially in the late 1880s, Leader painted on the coast of Wales in Snowdonia, often around Barmouth. This lively oil sketch is typical of his brisk work of that time, fresh, sunlit and windy, and is from the beach at Aberdovey, south of Barmouth on the West coast; a similar sketch of the same date and same size (handled by Richard Green Galleries), that he worked up into a larger painting for the 1888 Royal Academy Exhibition, is titled The Sands of Aberdovey. Leader was on holiday there with his family in the summer of 1888.”

The Maas Gallery, 15a Clifford Street, London W1S 4JZ has most generously given its permission to use in the Victorian Web information, images, and text from its catalogues. Copyright on text and images from their catalogues remains, of course, with the Gallery. Readers should consult their website to obtain information about recent exhibitions and to order their catalogues. — George P. Landow


Last modified 21 April 2020