The Iron Forge between Dolgelli and Barmouth in Merioneth Shire

The Iron Forge between Dolgelli and Barmouth in Merioneth Shire

Paul Sandby

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Sandby was already an experienced watercolorist and etcher when he began tinkering with Jean-Baptiste Le Prince's recipe for applying tonal areas to etchings with resin powder. But, instead of distributing the powder dry, he dissolved it in "rectified spirits of wine" so that it could be brushed on an etching plate like an ink wash, a process for which he coined the term aquatint. This image image of an active iron forge belongs to a set of Welsh views, and the artist represents his subject raked by low sunlight, to cast the entrance wall facing us in deep shadow.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Iron Forge between Dolgelli and Barmouth in Merioneth ShireThe Iron Forge between Dolgelli and Barmouth in Merioneth ShireThe Iron Forge between Dolgelli and Barmouth in Merioneth ShireThe Iron Forge between Dolgelli and Barmouth in Merioneth ShireThe Iron Forge between Dolgelli and Barmouth in Merioneth Shire

The Department’s vast collection of works on paper comprises approximately 21,000 drawings, 1.2 million prints, and 12,000 illustrated books created in Europe and the Americas from about 1400 to the present day. Since its foundation in 1916, the Department has been committed to collecting a wide range of works on paper, which includes both pieces that are incredibly rare and lauded for their aesthetic appeal, as well as material that is more popular, functional, and ephemeral. The broad scope of the department’s collecting encourages questions of connoisseurship as well as those pertaining to function and context, and demonstrates the vital role that prints, drawings, and illustrated books have played throughout history.