The Story of Welsh Art 

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Broadcaster Huw Stephens discovers the many treasures of Welsh art.

Broadcaster Huw Stephens discovers the many treasures of Welsh art, following the story from prehistoric times up to the present day.

Series 1

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Until 03/01/2009 BBC Two Wales (analogue) was known simply as BBC Two Wales. BBC Two Wales (digital) was BBC 2W. From 03/01/2009 BBC Two Wales schedules on both analogue and digital became identical

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Simulcast of BBC One Wales in high definition. From 29/01/2013

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Huw Stephens

Ian Michael Jones

Judith Winnan

Wildflame Productions UK

The Story of Welsh Art: Series 1: Episode 1

Episode 1

BBC Two - The Story of Welsh Art, Series 1, Episode 1

Huw Stephens begins his history of Welsh art at a burial chamber on Anglesey.

Huw Stephens begins his history of Welsh art at a burial chamber on Anglesey, showing how it evolved from prehistoric rock carvings into depictions of the human form and the earliest Welsh portraits.


Huw Stephens explores what has long been a missing piece in the cultural story of Britain and indeed Wales itself – the story of Welsh art.

Huw starts his journey on the island of Anglesey where he steps inside a prehistoric burial chamber to witness Welsh art in its earliest form. He sees an exquisite example of Bronze Age artistry in the form of a gold cape, found by chance in a field in North Wales and now one of the prize exhibits in the British Museum.

Religious art delivers some of the most powerful and physically impressive pieces, from towering Celtic crosses standing sentinel in churchyards, to the sleeping figure of Jesse, hewn out of a single piece of oak but also delicately depicted in a rare surviving example of Welsh medieval stained glass.

As artists moved their gaze beyond religion, the rise of portraiture began, with Hans Memling delivering the first known oil painting of a named Welsh person, John Donne, in the 15th century.

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