William Evans (landscape painter)

[1] Wishing to perfect his art by the study of nature alone, and to free himself from the influence of schools or individuals, Evans made himself a home for many years in the centre of a grand gorge of mountain scenery in North Wales,[2] at a farm called Tyn-y-Cai, in a large park at the junction of the River Lledr with the River Conwy, near Betws-y-Coed.

[1] Here he was able to cultivate a natural impulse for originality and grandeur in the constant contemplation of nature in some of its wildest forms, and he produced some fine works, notably Traeth Mawr; his treatment of the mountain torrents and the cottage scenery of the neighbourhood was also remarkable.

[2] William James Müller, a friend from his Bristol days, joined him in painting this area on a visit of 1842.

[3] After 1852 Evans visited Italy, spending the winter successively at Genoa, Rome, and Naples, and he collected numerous materials for working up into landscapes of a very different character from his earlier productions.

[2] His work was cut short by illness, and he died in Marylebone Road, London, on 7 December 1858, aged 49.