Casgliadau Arlein

Brother of William De La Motte (1775-1863). He worked as a drawing master at Sandhurst, London, Reading and Swansea. A sketchbook of his is held in the West Glamorgan Archive Service and contains many views of Swansea, Briton Ferry and Vale of Neath. This will be pblished shortly in facsimile. National Museum Wales holds 17 of his watercolours and eighteen etchings/lithographs, all of Glamorgan subjects. These include a drawing for Swansea from the Western Pier, as well as a view of Rheola, where these oils first hung. Dynas Rock and Bridge can be compared with watercolours in the collection of the same scene by Thomas Hornor and William Weston Young. The Thomas Hornor album of Neath views in the collection was probably made for John Edwards in 1816. Edwards was a cousin and business partner of the architect John Nash, who rebuilt Rheola circa 1814-18 in the fashionable cottage manner, Edwards' country house near Neath.