Landscape Painting Cottages In The Snowdonia Range In The Manner of Sir Kyffin Williams

Welsh Landscape by Andrew Belderbos (British, b.1969) Carneddau – Snowdonia In The Manner of Sir Kyffin Williams 

An original 2022 acrylic landscape capturing cottages beneath the rugged Carneddau Mountains of North Wales, painted in the manner of the Welsh landscape tradition associated with Sir Kyffin Williams.

Highlights

• Original contemporary British landscape by Andrew Belderbos

• Registered title Carneddau – Snowdonia

• Painted in November 2022

• Acrylic on canvas

• Monogrammed “AB” lower left

• North Wales subject within the Carneddau Mountains of Snowdonia (Eryri)

• Two distinctive white cottages amongst the mountainous terrain

• Strongly worked impasto surface with expressive brush and palette-knife-like handling

• In the manner of Sir Kyffin Williams and the modern Welsh landscape tradition

• Acquired directly from the artist

• Art Provenance Register Certificate No. MCWM 17245 6936

• Contemporary black frame with contrasting white inner surround

• Ready for display

Introduction

A compelling interpretation of the North Welsh landscape by contemporary British artist Andrew Belderbos, presenting two white cottages surrounded by the dramatic terrain of the Carneddau Mountains in Snowdonia.

Belderbos approaches the landscape through texture and atmosphere. Mountain slopes are assembled from vigorous passages of charcoal, grey, olive, brown and mustard ochre, interrupted by the brilliant white walls of the cottages.

A meandering grey track carries the viewer through the foreground towards the buildings and distant hills. Overhead, the substantial expanse of muted grey sky gives the scene the unsettled atmospheric quality characteristic of the Welsh uplands.

Created in November 2022, the painting was acquired directly from the artist and retains documentary evidence identifying its original title, medium and date.

Catalogue Details

Artist: Andrew Belderbos (British, b.1969)

Title: Carneddau – Snowdonia

Descriptive Title: Cottages in the Carneddau Mountains, North Wales

Date: November 2022

Medium: Acrylic on canvas

Signature: Monogrammed “AB” lower left

Subject: Carneddau Mountains, Snowdonia (Eryri), North Wales

Documentation: The Art Provenance Register Certificate No. MCWM 17245 6936

Framed Dimensions: 56 cm wide × 46 cm high × 2 cm deep

Catalogue Note

The title Carneddau – Snowdonia is recorded on the Art Provenance Register certificate preserved on the reverse and is therefore retained as the principal catalogue title.

Belderbos organises the composition around contrasts of scale and tone. The intensely white cottages provide immediate focal points, yet their modest proportions ensure that the surrounding mountain environment remains dominant.

The track introduces a serpentine movement through an otherwise strongly constructed landscape, drawing together foreground, habitation and distant mountain.

Particularly effective is the use of mustard-yellow ochre across the terrain. These warmer passages animate the darker charcoal and grey areas and prevent the restricted palette from becoming sombre.

Rather than attempting literal topographical description, Belderbos distils the landscape into its essential components of mountain, cottage, track and sky.

The Artist – Andrew Belderbos

Andrew Belderbos is a contemporary British painter, born in 1969 and based in Harpenden, Hertfordshire.

British landscape is an established aspect of his painting practice, and documented examples encompass subjects in Wales, the Lake District and Northern Ireland.

His engagement with North Wales predates the present work. The 2020 acrylic Tryfan was inspired by the rugged beauty, landscape and weather of Snowdonia, establishing a useful precedent for the mountainous subject explored again in Carneddau – Snowdonia.

Belderbos has also employed impasto and palette-knife methods in other North Welsh subjects, demonstrating that the pronounced materiality visible here forms part of his wider artistic vocabulary.

The Carneddau & Snowdonia

The Carneddau are one of the principal mountain ranges of Snowdonia, now Eryri National Park, and form an imposing part of the upland landscape of North Wales.

Belderbos does not present the mountains as a picturesque backdrop. Instead, they occupy and structure much of the painted field, surrounding the cottages and visually dwarfing the evidence of human habitation.

The expansive sky further contributes to this relationship between habitation and environment.

The resulting scene communicates something of the isolation, exposed terrain and mutable weather that characterise the high landscapes of North Wales.

In the Manner of Sir Kyffin Williams

The painting can be situated within the modern Welsh landscape tradition associated particularly with Sir Kyffin Williams RA (1918–2006).

Its visual affinity is apparent in the reduction of the landscape into substantial mountain forms, the use of white rural architecture against darker terrain, the restrained earth-based palette and, above all, the emphasis placed upon the physical surface of the paint.

The description “in the manner of Sir Kyffin Williams” is used as a stylistic classification. It acknowledges these visual and technical affinities without implying authorship by Williams.

Carneddau – Snowdonia is an original work by Andrew Belderbos and is not catalogued as a copy of any identified composition by Sir Kyffin Williams.

Technique, Impasto & Paint Surface

The physical paint surface is one of the defining characteristics of the work.

Belderbos varies the density of the acrylic considerably. Certain passages are thin enough for the texture of the canvas to remain visible, while other areas are constructed from substantial accumulations of pigment.

Broad sweeps, dragged marks and palette-knife-like strokes form irregular ridges across the mountain terrain.

Charcoal and black establish the deepest structural passages. Slate and silvery greys dominate the mountains and sky, while olive and earth colours soften the transition into the foreground. Mustard-yellow ochre provides the principal warmth.

The cottages are deliberately treated with considerably brighter white pigment, allowing their simplified architectural forms to stand apart from the surrounding terrain.

The irregularity of the surface is integral to the artist's handling and contributes materially to the character of the landscape.

Signature & Art Provenance Register Documentation

The work is monogrammed “AB” in white at the lower left of the painted surface.

An Art Provenance Register certificate remains attached to the reverse and records:

Artist: Andrew Belderbos

Title: Carneddau – Snowdonia

Medium: Acrylic

Date Artwork Created: November 2022

Certificate Number: MCWM 17245 6936

The certificate provides contemporaneous documentary information concerning the authorship, title, medium and date and remains part of the painting's provenance record.

Provenance

Acquired directly from Andrew Belderbos.

The Art Provenance Register, Certificate No. MCWM 17245 6936.

Cheshire Antiques Consultant LTD®.

Exhibition History

Andrew Belderbos has documented public exhibition history, including participation with The Art & Design Hub.

No exhibition history specific to Carneddau – Snowdonia has presently been established.

Dimensions

Framed:

Width: 56 cm / approximately 22.05 inches

Height: 46 cm / approximately 18.11 inches

Depth: 2 cm / approximately 0.79 inches

Frame

The work is presented in a contemporary black outer frame incorporating a contrasting white recessed inner surround.

This restrained presentation works effectively with the painting's predominantly charcoal, grey and white tonal structure while providing a clean visual boundary around the more strongly coloured ochre passages.

The painting is ready for display.

Condition Report

Presented in very good overall condition.

The painted surface retains its pronounced original texture, including raised acrylic, ridged pigment, dragged marks and areas in which the weave of the canvas remains visible. These variations are intentional features of Belderbos's technique.

The contemporary frame shows light evidence of previous handling and display, including minor surface imperfections.

The detailed photographs should be viewed as part of the condition description.

Further photographs and condition information are available upon request.

Worldwide Shipping

Worldwide shipping is available.

The painting will be professionally packed with appropriate consideration given to the pronounced impasto surface and contemporary frame. Insured delivery can be arranged according to destination.

Certificate of Sale & Dealer Attribution

The artwork will be supplied with a Certificate of Sale & Dealer Attribution issued by Cheshire Antiques Consultant LTD®, recording the artwork’s catalogue details, attribution, provenance as stated, and details of the sale. This document accompanies the work as part of its ongoing ownership and provenance record.

Attribution and Research

The historical observations, provenance research, attribution analysis and contextual commentary presented within this catalogue entry represent the professional opinion of Cheshire Antiques Consultant LTD®. They are offered in good faith as informed scholarly assessments based upon the available evidence, comparative research, published reference material and our experience within the international fine art market.

These observations should be understood as professional opinions rather than definitive statements of fact or guarantees of authorship, attribution, date, origin, provenance or historical interpretation. As with all historic works of art, future documentary discoveries, technical examination, conservation analysis or advances in academic research may refine, expand or revise current interpretations.

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Additional photographs and further information are available upon request.