The National Museum Cardiff has a splendid art gallery. This
is largely due to its Victorian benefactors, the Davies sisters, Gwendoline and
Margaret. They eventually inherited substantial amounts of disposable cash that
had been accrued by their grandfather, David Davies, and they spent a
proportion of it buying quality art work, which they left to the gallery.
David Davies was a Victorian railway pioneer. He built a succession
of new routes throughout Wales, including the Vale of Clwyd Railway, the
Oswestry and Newport Railway, the Newtown and Machynlleth Railway and the
Pembroke and Tenby Railway, and he was responsible for the construction of
Barry Docks.
Amongst the treasures on display in the gallery, is this 1902
painting by Claude Monet. Charing Cross Bridge is one of those bequeathed to
the museum by Margaret Davies, in 1963. Monet was so attracted by the light
conditions at this location that he painted it over thirty-five times. It is
thought that industrial pollution made a significant contribution to the atmospheric
conditions he found so appealing – especially so in winter. Monet obviously saw
this as a bonus rather than a problem. The steam train crossing the bridge in
this version would simply, therefore, be adding to the mix.
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