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Rievaulx Abbey, Yorkshire

Image courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Arts | CC0 1.0

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Date

1803

Artist

John Sell Cotman (1782-1842)

Collection

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Image Link

https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/373905

Description

Cotman helped to reshape British watercolor painting by demonstrating the medium's aesthetic and expressive potential. A native of Norwich, in Norfolk, he moved to London in 1798 and over the next eight years developed an innovative and distinct formal vocabulary. This watercolor was made after a summer sketching tour of Yorkshire, in 1803, and a visit to Rievaulx Abbey-one of the Catholic institutions allowed to decay after Henry VIII dissolved its resident order in 1534. Gothic architecture had strong nationalist associations, and these ruins also appealed to romantic taste. Cotman's rendering of cattle sheltering in a partially collapsed chapel points to the transience of human endeavor. Technically, the drawing provides a fresh and characteristic example of how the artist turned natural and architectural forms into arresting two-dimensional patterns. His work displays an abstract sensibility that came to be appreciated only in the twentieth century. Medium: watercolor and graphite with scratching out.

Image Licence

CC0 1.0

Image Credit

Image courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Arts

Location

Rievaulx Abbey, North Yorkshire, England

Country

Tags

Religious Buildings
Ruins

Category

Buildings & Architecture

Glossary
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© 2024 Watercolour World | Technology by The Museum Platform

© 2024 Watercolour World | Technology by The Museum Platform