William Turner trained with John Varley and was a regular exhibitor at the Old Water-Colour Society throughout his life. He travelled throughout England and Wales from 1815 and lived in Oxford after 1833 where he taught watercolour painting to many of the cultured amateurs at the University. Nicholson's Cambrian Traveller's Guide of 1840 describes Capel Curig as "a few cottages and a chapel, situated between Llanrwst and Caernarvon on the London and Holyhead road... a guide to Snowdon and Glyder Bach may be had here. The vale of Capel Curig is bounded by Snowdon and his surrounding mountains, affording a most picturesque landscape. Here is that variety of wood and water, in which many of the Welsh vales are defective."

Text by: Department of Art, National Museums & Galleries of Wales