A Canaletto masterpiece has officially been unveiled in Aberystwyth.

The National Library of Wales unveiled The Stonemason’s Yard at a reception for invited guests on Thursday night (10 May).

Among the guests was National Gallery trustee James Lambert who expressed gratitude to Wales and the National Library for protecting items from their collection during the war.

“In our moment of need when the sky was turning black and fires were breaking out across central London and threatening the gallery, it was here that our pictures came. These extraordinary things could have been lost to humanity.”

Alex Kavanagh, head of national touring exhibitions at the National Gallery was also at the unveiling. She said: “Seeing this masterpiece in a new location, being enjoyed by new audiences and being displayed in a new way really does epitomise everything that is unique about the national treasures programme, and the value that our partners have bought to our bicentenary celebrations.”

Canaletto’s impressive artwork is on loan to the library as part of the National Gallery’s National Treasures project, which presents a rare opportunity to see the work outside of London.

It forms part of the Idyll and Industry exhibition, which spans two gallery spaces and 250 years of art.

The display in the library’s annexe gallery tells the incredible story of how The Stonemason’s Yard, amongst other treasures, came to Wales during the Second World War to be protected in the cavernous Manod slate mines. Through photographs, film and archival items from the collections of The National Gallery and The National Library of Wales, we follow these treasures’ journey from London to Aberystwyth, and then on to the slate mines of Manod near Blaenau Ffestiniog.

The Gregynog Gallery is the largest gallery space in Wales and showcases Canaletto’s masterpiece as the centerpiece. Using The Stonemason’s Yard as a springboard, the exhibition around it explores the library’s national collection of Welsh landscape art.

Wales' contrasting landscapes weave a rich tapestry of the idyllic and the industrial, and this beautiful land continues to be a haven for artists who reimagine and redraw the contours of its hills and valleys. Whilst famous scenic views are celebrated, artists also find inspiration in industrial and urban areas. This exhibition includes works by classical artists such as Richard Wilson, J. M. W. Turner and Penry Williams alongside more modern works by artists like Graham Sutherland, Mary Lloyd Jones and Ernest Zobole.