Hen Aelwyd / Old Hearth

Inside the image.

A square, warmly coloured cover depicts a man seated at a large harp inside a rough stone room. He occupies the left half, leaning towards the instrument and looking down at its strings. He wears a pale long-sleeved shirt, a dark red patterned waistcoat and dark trousers. The harp rises from the lower centre towards the upper middle: its tall, curved wooden frame and closely spaced strings form a broad diagonal screen between the man and the room behind him. His hands are positioned among the strings.

A lit fireplace glows at the right, beneath a dark stone opening. Flames rise above a low grate stacked with logs, and the fire casts orange light across the hearth and nearby floor. A black kettle or pot sits near the fire. In the lower right foreground, a small stool or stand holds a pale bowl-shaped object; other indistinct tools and furnishings gather in the shadows around the hearth. The uneven stone walls enclose the scene, with a dark framed picture high on the left wall and part of a window at the far left. A chair is partly visible behind the seated figure. The floor is bare and mottled, with the harp’s base and the man’s feet close to its surface.

The image is tightly framed, with no visible border. The man and harp form the main focal group, balanced by the bright fire on the right. The harp’s diagonal body draws the eye upward, while the fire and its reflected light pull it back down towards the hearth. Much of the upper-right background is very dark, providing a field for the title lettering. The scene has a photographic appearance, with softened detail and a strong amber, brown and black colour range. The brightest areas are the man’s shirt, the fire, and the yellow-orange lettering; deep shadows pool around the room’s edges and behind the harp.

Large decorative lettering in the upper right reads “ROBIN / HUW / BOWEN” over three lines, in golden yellow with reddish shading or edging. Beneath it, smaller orange-red lettering reads “Hen Aelwyd / (Old Hearth)”. Two small lines of pale text sit along the bottom edge: “Cerddoriaeth y Delyn Deires i danio’r enaid” and “Welsh music on the Triple Harp to fire the soul”.