The period 1870-1950 is often thought of as a dark age in the artistic history of Wales. Many observers believed that the lack of a visible national school of painting and sculpture meant that the visual arts in Wales were moribund. In An Elusive Tradition, Eric Rowan and Carolyn Stewart challenge this view and demonstrate that in fact the visual arts in Wales were more vigorous and varied than was thought at the time.

An Elusive Tradition comprises a series of fully illustrated studies of relatively neglected aspects of art in Wales. It discusses Welsh art in relation to its geographical, cultural and international contexts and focuses on the artists and patrons, both Welsh and non-Welsh, who ensured that the arts in Wales continued to flourish, including William Burges, Frederick Rolfe, Theodore Baily, David Jones, Eric Gill, Augustus John, J. D. Innes, Baron Howard de Walden, the Third Marquess of Bute, the Davies sisters and John Quinn.