This painting is a later reworking of a view that Sandby took some 30 years previously in his expedition to South Wales with the eminent naturalist Joseph Banks. Sandby eventually made four aquatints of Chepstow and its Castle. This particular view featured in the series of aquatints published in 1777. There are significant differences in this re-working: the foreground figures, cart and oxen and the woodcutter are at work rather than resting; and the different rendering of the castle indicate a personal familiarity with the site. Chepstow Museum previously had aquatints and engravings after SandbyÂ’s drawings but this is the first original work to enter the collection.

Provenance

Sir William Beechey; ChristieÂ’s, 1924; P&D Conalghi, London (as Ludlow Castle); J L Wright; Heather Newman, Gloucestershire; Manning Gallery, London.