Two contemporary Welsh artists have followed in the footsteps of nineteenth-century landscape painter Henry G Gastineau, by creating their own interpretations of his famous painting of Holyhead’s South Stack/Ynys Lawd lighthouse.

Porthmadog watercolourist Rob Piercy and Holyhead sculptor and artist Stuart Byrne were invited to take up the challenge by S4C’s art series Byd o Liw.

Henry G. Gastineau (1791-1876) worked in Camberwell, south London as a drawing master, but become famous for his striking watercolours, many of which were inspired by the wild Welsh countryside.

Gastineau’s large watercolour of South Stack, housed at the National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth, depicts the workers building the stone stairway linking the craggy mainland with the lighthouse rock. It’s full of dramatic contrasts and Christian symbolism, portraying man’s battle against the forces of nature.

Artist profiles...
Rob Piercy
Stuart Byrne