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This striking picture is thought to be the earliest painted depiction of a Welshman celebrating St David’s day. The sitter is shown in a darkly lit tavern, with a gilded leek in his hat, a plate of bread and cheese on the table, and raising a glass of what is probably ale. At first glance, the picture seems to be a Dutch candle-light work, of the type made popular by artists such as Godfried Schalken, who lived in England from 1692-7. However, each detail, such as the size of the canvas, the type of glass shown, and the clay pipe, helps us to date the picture to the 1730s or 40s.
St David’s day is clearly symbolised by the most prominent feature of the work, the leek shown on the sitter’s large hat. The origins of Welshmen pinning leeks to their clothes on St David’s day are not certainly known, but it is a practice that at least predates Shakespeare’s reference to such an “ancient tradition” in Henry V. Leeks seem always to have been associated with St David, who is said to have ordered Welsh soldiers to wear them in their hats when attacking the Saxons. Thus leeks are invariably seen attached to hats, as here, where the sitter wears a type of hat commonly seen in depictions of Welshmen, such as English caricatures of ‘Poor Taff’, which first appeared in the 1680s and became increasingly popular in the eighteenth century.
The circumstances of the original commission are unknown. While we cannot be certain that the picture is not some form of satire on the Welsh - given the gap in the teeth, and the fact that the early eighteenth century sees the adoption of the term ‘Welsh’ or to ‘Welch’ as a form of abuse - it seems likely that it would have been commissioned by a wealthy welsh patron. Although not by a first-rate hand, the picture is technically accomplished, and in details such as the candle-lit glass belies an artist trained in Europe and working in England, most probably in London. It would, therefore, have been an expensive parody. In addition, the attention given to the leek, which is gilded, and the benign cheeriness of the sitter, strongly suggest that the picture has an entirely positive, celebratory theme belonging to the ‘subject’ or ‘fancy’ picture tradition. Many leading artists of the day, including Hogarth, experimented with this Dutch tradition of romanticised social realism, as seen in works such as ‘The Shrimp Girl’. Others, such as Schalken, and later in the century, Henry Morland, practiced it almost exclusively.
This picture is most probably linked to the increasing number of prosperous Welsh in London in the eighteenth century, who we know placed a great emphasis on celebrating St David’s day. The best known Welsh society was the Cymmrodorian Society, founded in 1751 by Lewis Morris. Another was the Honourable and Loyal Society of Antient Britons, founded in 1714. The Antient Britons, who celebrated St David’s Day in St Paul’s church in Covent Garden, promoted the Welsh nation not only as loyal Hanoverians (in the face of Jacobite support in Wales), but as the first and most noble inhabitants of Britain. That the Prince of Wales consented to be become their president gives an idea of how influential the London Welsh could be.