Thomas Pennant is the most important Welsh antiquarian of the eighteenth century. He produced a series of influential books which were all cleverly written in a autobiographical style, which adds much to the pleasure of their discovery. Pennant was a pioneering patron of Welsh art and artists. He promoted and discussed the undervalued Richard Wilson following the artist’s fall from favour, and he established professional local artists to illustrate his works and ensured that they developed individual styles. Pennant is here shown as a young boy who, even at an early age, was a draughtsman and interested in the Masters. He became a cultured and decorated member of the intellectual elite. Within his own country’s culture he was quick to see the importance of Welsh learning and employed his own Welsh scholar to translate and interpret the language.