Focus on Welsh artist's work

Wilson became Britain's first major landscape painter, known for his evocative Italian and classical style landscapes of Wales and England.

Wilson at Work is part of a two-year project funded by the Getty Grant programme and presents some exciting new discoveries about the artist's painting techniques.

X-radiography has revealed earlier compositions beneath some landscapes, such as 'Dolbadarn Castle', 'Dinas Bran' and 'Banditti around a tent'.

Video footage of the ongoing research work in the paintings conservation studio will be on show during the exhibition.

Richard Wilson, born in North Wales in 1714, trained as a portrait painter in London, the only way at that time to earn a living as an artist - but he was to change that. In 1750 he travelled to Italy where he became a painter of landscapes.

On his return to London in 1757, he established a studio specialising in Italian, English and Welsh Views.

Both Constable and Turner acknowledged the influence of Wilson's landscapes on their own work, and he became a success within his own lifetime.

The exhibition will focus on three themes - portraiture, Italian and British landscapes and Wilson's followers.

Examples of paintings and related drawings from National Museums and Galleries Wales collections will be shown alongside their X-ray and Infra Red images. There will also be information about the artist's pigments, media, painting techniques and his studio arrangements.

Each painting has been fully documented, and has had an examination using X-radiology, infra-red reflectography and ultra-violet light to determine its structure.

Scanning electron microscopy has also been carried out at Cardiff University, to discover which pigments were used. All in all it promises to be a fascinating insight into the skills and techniques of a seventeenth century painter.

Wilson at Work is at the National Museum and Gallery in Cardiff until April 7.