Conway in the County of Caernarvon. (Antique Aquatint Print.)

Original hand coloured etching and aquatint drawn and engraved by Paul Sandby, nicks and slight marks to the outer margins, not affecting the engraved area. Art historians have described Sandby as the first artist to fully understand and express the picturesque in art . The aquatint print was invented in France, eliminating the lined effect typical of eighteenth century engravings. Sandby developed the process of making aquatints so that he could recreate in a print, the look of a watercolour with varied tones and delicate patterns. In 1771 he set off from Wynnstay, Ruabon and soon became inspired by Wales' most dramatic scenery - resulting in the subsequent publication of Sandby's XII Views in North Wales. This famous series of prints, (Conway being one of them. Plate No. 11), would help transform attitudes to Wales and even herald the arrival of the Romantic Movement in British art.