Artwork
The Tyrifi-ord
The Tyrifi-ord is a print by the Romanticist artist Edward Price. It dates from 1834 and is held in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum.
About this work
Overview
The book, originally housed in brown leather, combines imagery with textual content and was once part of the Lennox-Boyd collection.
The Tyrifi-ord is a print from a bound volume of 21 engraved plates, created in the 19th century by Edward Price. The book, originally housed in brown leather, combines imagery with textual content and was once part of the Lennox-Boyd collection. This assemblage, comprising roughly 50,000 items, was transferred to the Victoria and Albert Museum in 2015 via an inheritance tax settlement, preserving a wide-ranging private archive of British graphic arts.
Subject & Meaning
The image depicts a desolate, rocky terrain with towering cliffs and a meandering river that slices through the composition. Tiny figures traverse a faint path beside the water, emphasizing the scale and isolation of the landscape. The title suggests a specific locale, though its geographic identity remains unconfirmed. The scene evokes quiet solitude, inviting contemplation rather than narrative interpretation.
Technique & Style
Price employed subtle tonal gradations to model the rugged terrain and atmospheric depth. The foreground features sharp, textured rock formations, while the distant hills dissolve into soft, diffused haze under a clouded sky. This contrast between detailed foreground and ethereal background reflects a tradition of topographical printmaking that prioritized mood over precise cartography, using light and shadow to suggest spatial recession.
History & Provenance
The print originated in a privately assembled collection curated by Lennox-Boyd, a noted British print dealer who expanded his business in 1963 to specialize in fine prints and related ephemera. His holdings included not only engravings but also 18th-century frames, footwear, fans, and printed textiles. The entire collection was acquired by the Victoria and Albert Museum in 2015, ensuring its preservation and public accessibility.
Context
This print belongs to a broader 19th-century British tradition of landscape documentation through print, often produced for private collectors or illustrated books. Unlike grand tour imagery, it avoids romanticized vistas, favoring raw, unpopulated terrain. Its inclusion in a mixed-media collection underscores the era’s fascination with material culture beyond fine art, linking visual art with everyday objects and regional identity.
Legacy
The Tyrifi-ord survives as one fragment of a vast, eclectic archive that reflects the evolving tastes of 19th- and 20th-century British collectors. Its presence in the Victoria and Albert Museum anchors it within institutional efforts to preserve vernacular graphic culture. While not widely known, it contributes to understanding how landscape imagery was collected, contextualized, and valued outside mainstream artistic narratives.
Own this work as a print
Artist & collection
