John Varley 1778-1842

Varley first visited Wales with his friend and fellow artist, George Arnald, in 1798.  He revisited Wales in 1802 with his brother, Cornelius, and with the architect, Thomas Webster.  These trips provided the subject matter and inspiration that Varley was to draw upon throughout his career.  

Varley produced several versions of this particular view of Conway castle.  It was an important subject for him and the present highly finished watercolour dates from the latter part of his career.  A smaller version, measuring 5 3/4 by 8 1/4 inches was sold at Christie's on 3rd June 2005, lot 132  for £8,962