Pengwern Old Hall, Festiniog, Merionethshire

Executed in muted pigments, Moore employs soft washes and delicate brushwork to render stone, foliage and sky with subtle tonal variation. The restrained palette and loose handling create a sense of atmospheric calm, while the precise delineation of architectural details maintains a documentary clarity.

Created for the Recording Britain project, the painting belongs to a wartime effort that mobilised artists to capture Britain’s built heritage. The scheme, funded by the Pilgrim Trust and directed by Sir Kenneth Clark, commissioned 97 artists to produce more than 1,500 works between 1940 and 1943, of which this piece is a surviving example.

Recorded during World War II, the image reflects a national desire to preserve visual memory of historic and rural sites threatened by change. Pengwern Old Hall, situated in the Welsh countryside, exemplifies the type of modest yet culturally resonant architecture the project aimed to document.