Lot 90: Hugh Hughes , 1790-1863 Portrait of Lewis Vaughan of Penmaen DYFI oil on canvas

full-length with a gun dog, a landscape beyond oil on canvas

measurements note 139 by 99 cm., 54 3/4 by 39 in.

J. Steegman, A Survey of Portraits in Welsh Homes, 1962, Vol 2, p.41, no. 4

Commissioned from the artist by the sitter;
by descent from the sitter to John Pugh Vaughan-Pryse of Bwlch Bychan, son-in-law of John Walters Phillipps of Aberglasney;
by descent to Mrs Mayhew, his daughter, who inherited Aberglasney from her grandfather

THE PROPERTY OF A GENTLEMAN AND A LADY
The sitter was the son of Lewish Vaughen of Penmaen Dyfi near Mackyalleth. In a letter dated 13th Janurary 1826 to the Rev. Jenkins, the artist makes specific mention of this commision: "I have painted six portraits in this neighbourhood, one of which is that of Mr Vaughan of Penmaen, a yard and a half long". Hugh Hughes is generally considered to be the first truly national artist of Wales. Born in a farmhouse near Llandudno and forced to leave Wales by the rural depression, he moved with his family to Liverpool aged twelve in 1802. For the next ten years he worked in Liverpool as an apprentice wood engraver and also began painting portraits. On his return to Wales in 1812 he worked as an itinerant portrait painter. In 1814 he moved to London and in 1818 made the momentous decision to venture into the lucrative market for travel books embellished with topographical engravings. Encouraged by the support of advance subscribers, including Sir Watkin Williams Wynne, he travelled widely throughout Wales doing sketches and the result was Beauties of Cambria, for which he was much feted at the Powys Eisteddfod. At the same time he was able to obtain wider patronage for his portraits from leaders of the cultural revolution taking place in Wales. By the late 1820s he had become known for his radical views on religion. becoming an active member of a Welsh society known as Cymreigyddion. He also controvercially supported Catholic emancipation and one of his fine portraits done in London was of Lord Holland and Lord Russell who were leaders in that campaign. In 1832 he moved with his wife to Carnearvon and devoted much of his energies to landscape painting. See P. Lord, The Visual Culture of Wales: Imaging the Nation (Cardiff, 2000), pp. 168-244.