This picturesque mid-19th-century oil painting by English artist Frederick Waters Watts (1801-1870) depicts the Menai Strait in North Wales. It presents a sweeping view along the strait, with the curving shoreline, distant sailing vessels, and a hill-top structure anchoring the expansive scene beyond.
The deft composition draws us gently forward along the stone roadway in the foreground, where a lone rider moves quietly away, accompanied by baskets resting beside the parapet. The river opens gradually to the right, while the sky lifts softly in pale blues and drifting clouds. There’s no sense of urgency here, only movement - a feeling of travel itself rather than destination.
Watts handles perspective with notable assurance, allowing the eye to move naturally through this scene rather than directing it via rigid structure. The shoreline buildings are delicately modulated in tone, each receding form softened by atmosphere rather than line, creating a convincing sense of spatial depth. Particularly effective is the distant hill-top structure, which acts as a quiet visual anchor, stabilising the composition and preventing the open water from overwhelming the view.
Watts was one of the most sensitive followers of John Constable working in the mid-19th century. He trained at the Royal Academy Schools and exhibited regularly at the Academy and the British Institution. Working primarily from his base in Hampstead, he travelled widely throughout Britain in search of inspiration, developing a calm, observational style rooted in close study of nature.
His admiration for Constable is particularly evident in his handling of light, atmosphere, and rural topography. Unlike Constable's more emotionally charged works, however, Watts's paintings tend toward stillness and reflection. The Menai Strait exemplifies this mature approach, revealing an artist less concerned with dramatic effect than with the lived experience of place and the quiet order of the natural world.
His works are held in various public collections, including at the Tate, London.
Held in a later frame with scrolling foliage, corner cartouches, and a pierced foliate crest rail. Bears a Frost & Reed label on the reverse with title and attribution.
Learn more about Frederick Waters Watts in our directory.
Medium: Oil on canvas
Overall size: 29” x 21” / 74cm x 53cm
Year of creation: c. 1850
Labels & Inscriptions: Frost and Reed gallery label on the reverse.
Provenance: With Frost and Reed, London / Private collection, UK.
Condition: Cleaned. Canvas relined. Fine craquelure throughout. The paint layer is stable. Frame in excellent condition.
Artist’s auction maximum: £88,000 for ‘Buckfastleigh Bridge, Devon (1833)’, Oil on canvas, Sotheby’s, British Paintings, London, 16 November 1988 (lot 105).
Our reference: BRV2254
