A VICTORIAN oil painting that provides a valuable record of the lost landscape of the Elan Valley, before the building of its reservoirs, will go back on public view this month following major restoration.

‘Vale of Nantgwylt 1891’ painted by Sir Alfred East RA has returned to the Radnorshire Museum in Llandrindod Wells where it will go on show from May 23.

The painting was originally presented to Rhayader District Council by Mrs Brayshay of Laugharne in Carmarthenshire in September 1952, and came into the possession of Powys County Council in 1974.

“It’s wonderful to have this grand painting back in Radnorshire,” said Radnorshire Museum curator Will Adams. “The conservators have done a truly magnificent job and I am immensely grateful to all those whose generous support has enabled the restoration of this fine example of Radnorshire’s rich heritage. Thank you, it would not have been possible without your kind help.”

The painting shows the Vale of Nantgwylt in the Elan Valley, prior to the construction of the reservoirs, and its restoration costing in the region of £10,000 was funded by Welsh Government through the Museums, Archives and Libraries Division, and the Federation of Museums and Art Galleries of Wales.

The Friends of the Radnorshire Museum also provided over £1,800 towards the cost of restoration.

The restoration was carried out by the highly accomplished painting conservator Rachel Howells, and the restored painting was unveiled to a invited gathering at the Radnorshire Museum in Llandrindod Wells last Saturday afternoon by Marcia Gibson Watt, chairman of the Friends of the Radnorshire Museum, and Mr Adams, accompanied by County Councillor Jon Williams, the councillor for Llandrindod Wells East/West ward.

The painting was created by Sir Alfred East who was one of the most prominent modern English landscape painters. He received his art education first at the Glasgow School of Art and then in Paris at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts under Robert-Fleury and Bouguereau.

He achieved distinction as an etcher and published an instructive and useful volume on landscape painting in 1906; and he was elected an associate of the Royal Academy in 1883 and became president of the Royal Society of British Artists in 1906.

Other examples of his work can be found in many British museums and galleries and feature in major collections around the world.