John Cambrian Rowland Explained

John Cambrian Rowland (7 December 1819  - 1890)[1] was a Welsh painter.

Rowland was born in Lledrod, Ceredigion, the son of Thomas Rowlands. It appears that he was the first professional artist to live in Aberystwyth.

The earliest instance of his work that is available is his outline drawing of John Williams (Shon Sgubor) that he drew in 1839, and was published in Wales, volume 15 (1898), p. 113. Another portrait of the Rev. John Hughes is held at the National Library of Wales.

John Cambrian Rowland is mainly remembered for his collection of Welsh costume prints - many of these were published in 1848. These have become standard images of 19th century Welsh life. The contents of his paintings suggest that he settled in north Wales, and one biography suggests that he was appointed as an art instructor at the Caernarvon Church Training College.

Europeana 280

In April 2016 the painting was selected as one of Wales' ten iconic paintings as part of the Europeana art project[2]

Bibliography

Paul Joyner, Artists in Wales c.1740-c.1851, p. 110

Notes and References

  1. Book: John Davies. Nigel Jenkins. Menna Baines. The Welsh Academy encyclopaedia of Wales. 2008. University of Wales Press. 978-0-7083-1953-6. 778.
  2. Web site: Europeana 280 Blog. 14 April 2016. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20160501013426/http://pro.europeana.eu/pressrelease/europeana-280-art-from-the-28-countries-of-europe. 1 May 2016.