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Item Details

Large Victorian Welsh Landscape Oil Painting – Snowdon Range with Rainbow
Charles Leslie (British, 19th Century), Signed and Dated 1878
An impressive large-scale Victorian oil painting depicting the Snowdon / Yr Wyddfa mountain range in Wales, shown as a summer storm clears and sunlight breaks through the clouds, revealing a delicate rainbow above still water. Painted in 1878 and signed by Charles Leslie, this is a classic example of the high Victorian sublime landscape tradition.
Description
The composition is built on a grand scale, with a broad, dramatic sky dominating the scene and distant mountains dissolving into mist and thinning cloud. Leslie skilfully leads the eye from the quiet foreground water into the valley and onward to the cool, silvery peaks of Snowdon beyond. The atmospheric handling of weather is particularly accomplished, with layered storm clouds, soft shafts of returning light, and a refined, naturalistic rainbow cutting diagonally across the sky.
Cool greys, slate tones, and blue-green hues define the distant mountains, while the nearer land glows with warmer ochres, russets, browns, and mossy greens. Subtle reflections animate the water, enhancing the calm that follows rainfall. Small birds skim the surface and two diminutive figures fishing along the shoreline introduce scale and human presence without disturbing the overall serenity of the scene.
The painting balances drama and restraint, combining the grandeur of mountainous landscape and shifting weather with a quiet, contemplative mood typical of the finest Victorian landscape painting.
Artist
Charles Leslie was a British 19th-century landscape painter associated with the wider circle of the Williams family of painters, a highly influential dynasty in Victorian British landscape art. He exhibited at major London institutions including the Royal Academy, the British Institution, and the Suffolk Street Gallery (Society of British Artists). Leslie was particularly admired for his Welsh and Scottish subjects, which appealed strongly to Victorian collectors seeking romantic and atmospheric views of Britain’s wild landscapes.
Date and Signature
Signed and dated in red to the lower left: “Charles Leslie 1878.”
The painting is also fitted with a brass title plaque reading:
“A Summer Shower Passing Over The Snowdon Range – Charles Leslie – 1878.”
Frame
Housed in a substantial and richly ornamented Victorian gilt frame, entirely in keeping with the scale and period of the work.
Dimensions (Framed)
89.5 cm high x 140 cm wide x 6 cm deep
Provenance
Private collection.
Sold at Bigwood Auctioneers & Valuers Ltd, Stratford-upon-Avon, Select Interiors & Antiques Auction, 2022.
Curated by Cheshire Antiques Consultant LTD.
Condition
Good antique condition overall. Age-related craquelure and minor surface wear consistent with a 19th-century oil painting. Small areas of paint loss and surface abrasion visible on close inspection. The canvas has been professionally relined. The gilt frame shows historic wear, old repairs, cracking, and minor losses consistent with age.
Summary
Large, decorative Victorian landscape oil
Classic Snowdon / Welsh mountain subject
Atmospheric storm-clearing sky with rainbow
Signed and dated 1878
Strong decorative presence for a grand interior
Documented UK auction provenance
Worldwide shipping available. Professionally packed and fully insured.

• Period: 1878
• • Price: £6,000.00
  • €6,939 Euro
  • $8,051 US Dollar
• Location: London
• • Dimensions: H: 89.5cm (35.24in)
  • W: 140cm (55.12in)
  • D: 6cm (2.36in)