Nathaniel Armstrong Wells (1806–1846): A Black Victorian Connoisseur and Artist in Seville (1841) and Toledo (1844)

The architectural historian and artist Nathaniel Armstrong Wells deserves greater recognition beyond Spain for his insightful descriptions and accurate depictions of the architecture of Burgos, Valladolid, Toledo and Seville, published in 1846 as Picturesque Antiquities in Spain. With the recent discovery of his original drawings in the Tate Gallery, London, his work can be critically revisited. His fieldwork, carried out in 1841 and 1844, focused on the medieval architecture of these four lesser-known Spanish cities and reveals that he was attuned to the theoretical ideas of the time. Indeed, his perspectives align more closely with those of his French and Spanish peers than his British counterparts. His interpretations reflected the writings of contemporary Spanish historians as they themselves re-evaluated Spain’s complex architectural heritage, and his work anticipated the mid-19th-century reappraisal of Spanish architecture, when less-celebrated architectural styles ceased to be considered impure and inferior and instead, newly characteristic and exemplary. This article presents a comparative study of Wells’s drawings of Seville and Toledo against those of his contemporaries. Although his drawings are those of an amateur, many appear superior to his professional peers. This study establishes the fidelity of his drawings, making them of immeasurable value to historians since they are in many cases unique documentary evidence of buildings that have since undergone transformation. Wells thus emerges as a significant artist and connoisseur, independent of his remarkable status as a Black Welsh amateur of West Indian heritage.