Leigh Tor Rocks at Poundsgate, near New Bridge on the Dart, Devon England, 19th century

Leigh Tor Rocks at Poundsgate, near New Bridge on the Dart, Devon

1800

John White Abbott

(British, 1763–1851)

England, 19th century

watercolor with pen and black ink and traces of graphite underdrawing

Image: 16 x 24.7 cm (6 5/16 x 9 3/4 in.); Sheet: 17.9 x 26.9 cm (7 1/16 x 10 9/16 in.)

Gift of the Painting and Drawing Society of The Cleveland Museum of Art 2005.200

Location: not on view

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Did You Know?

In addition to working as a watercolorist, John White Abbott served professionally as an apothecary and surgeon.

Description

This closely observed watercolor was made in Dartmoor—an expanse of moorland in southwest England capped with a series of more than 100 exposed granite hilltops known as "tors," ranging from the monolithic to the nondescript. John White Abbott chose a low vantage point that accentuated the looming immensity of the outcrop in whose shelter a herd of cows has converged. Almost austere in its lack of superfluous detail, this small sheet suggests the untamed quality of the Devon moors.