The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 2, 2023

Interior of a Cathedral

c. 1820s

Samuel Prout

(British, 1783–1852)

England, 19th century

Gray and brown wash with point of brush and pen and brown ink with watercolor heightened with gouache

Support: Heavy, moderately textured cream wove paper

Sheet: 43.3 x 30 cm (17 1/16 x 11 13/16 in.)

Bequest of James Parmelee 1940.560

Location

not on view

Fun Fact

Rather than showing a specific church, this drawing seems to depict an amalgamation of Gothic architecture, capturing a mood and not a particular place.

Description

Samuel Prout’s watercolors of picturesque views and architectural marvels of Italy, France, Germany, and Switzerland attracted a wide audience, helped inspire travel, and shaped the English perception of Continental Europe. The influential critic John Ruskin became a close friend, neighbor, and great supporter of the artist, declaring in the Art Journal in 1849 that no other artist expressed architectural detail in more "splendid accumulation" or "patient love" than Prout.

Inscriptions

Inscription

signed, in brown ink, at lower right: SProut

Provenance
?-?
A. D. Halford, Esq.
1912
(sale, Victor G. Fischer Company Collection, Anderson Galleries, New York, February 19, 1912, no. 648)
?-1931
James Parmelee [1855-1931], Washington, DC, by descent to Alice Maury Parmelee
1931-1940
Alice Maury Parmelee [1866-1940], Washington, DC, bequeathed to the Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH through the Estate of James Parmelee
1940-
Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
Citations
Francis, Henry S. "The Bequest of James Parmelee." Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 28, no. 2 (February 1941): 15-27, 31. Mentioned: p. 17 www.jstor.org
Lemonedes, Heather. British Drawings: The Cleveland Museum of Art. Exh. Cat. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2013. Mentioned: pp. 68-69, 147, no. 21; Reproduced: p. 69
Exhibition history

Lemonedes, Heather. British Drawings: The Cleveland Museum of Art. Published on the occasion of the exhibition "British Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art" shown 10 Feb to 26 May 2013 at the Cleveland Museum of Art. London: D Giles Limited, 2013. Cat 21, pg 68-9.

The Birth and Flowering of British Romantic Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (May 1-July 22, 1990).

Source URL: https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1940.560