Artwork Page for Neath Abbey

Details / Information for Neath Abbey

Neath Abbey

c. 1840s

Peter De Wint

(British, 1784–1849)
Culture
England, 19th century
Medium
watercolor with traces of graphite underdrawing and scratch-away
Support
Rough textured off-white wove paper
Measurements
Overall: 16 x 23.6 cm (6 5/16 x 9 5/16 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of the Painting and Drawing Society of The Cleveland Museum of Art 2005.198
Public Domain
You can copy, modify, and distribute this work, all without asking permission. Learn more about CMA's Open Access Initiative.
Location
Not on view
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Did You Know?

Peter DeWint traveled abroad only once, to Normandy, and was disappointed with the landscape outside of his native England.

Description

Among the key artists of the golden age of watercolor painting in England, Peter DeWint was known for his panoramic views of spacious, seemingly commonplace landscapes rendered in broad washes of earth-tone hues. This drawing depicts the ruins of Neath Abbey, a Cistercian monastery established in the early 12th century in south Wales. From the Tudor period there was industrial activity around the abbey, and by the time DeWint was painting the priory, the Neath Abbey Iron Company had engulfed the environs of the church with copper smelting and manufacture. DeWint chose to omit evidence of the transformation of the area and its role in the Industrial Revolution.
A horizontally oriented watercolor and graphite drawing depicts a landscape with stone ruins. To the right, a tall, crumbling wall with an arched doorway rises from dark green scrub. To the left, fragmented ruins are framed by tall trees. Small figures with light skin tones are portrayed through brief brushstrokes near the structures. Distant blue hills sit beneath a pale, muted sky, while a dirt path winds through the foreground.

Neath Abbey

c. 1840s

Peter De Wint

(British, 1784–1849)
England, 19th century

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