2-982-430 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

"The Last Welsh Bard", the Painting which obtained the Prize at the Llangollen Eisteddfod, 1858. The Eisteddfod at Llangollen this year was signalised by a pictorial competition in addition to the usual bardic performances...[the winner of the best painting by a Welsh artist was] Mr. William Jones...for his painting...which is undoubtedly a clever work, and full of national character. The artist appears to have taken his subject from that portion of Gray's ode in which the last bard is represented on the lofty heights of Snowdon, viewing the advance of Edward's invading army, with mingled feelings of sorrow and ire: "On a rock whose haughty brow Frowned o'er old Conway's foaming flood Rob'd in sable garb of woe, With haggard eyes the poet stood (Loose his beard and hoary hair Streamed like a meteor in the troubled air), And, with a master's hand and prophet's fire, Struck the deep sorrows of his lyre". The attitude of the venerable bard, standing undismayed on his dizzy height, is boldly conceived. His face wears a severe expression, his sparse grey hairs being agitated by the wind. The ribbon bound round his uplifted arm denotes that he is a man of high rank. Far below...winds the struggling and broken flood of the Conway'. From "Illustrated London News", 1858.