Rievaulx Abbey, Yorkshire

John Sell Cotman

1803 · Watercolor and graphite with reductive techniques · Drawings and Prints

Cotman’s innovations reshaped watercolor painting in Britain and expanded the medium’s aesthetic potential. Born in Norwich, northeast of London, the artist relocated to the capital between 1798 and 1806, traveling and sketching in the summers. This moody image of the Gothic abbey at Rievaulx relates to a Yorkshire tour of 1803. By Cotman’s day, the ruins of Rievaulx—one of the Catholic institutions dissolved by Henry VIII when he broke from Rome in 1534—sheltered cattle and, for the artist, evoked the transience of human endeavor. Technically, the drawing demonstrates how, even early in his career, Cotman transformed architectural and natural forms into arresting two-dimensional patterns.

Artist

John Sell Cotman

Date

1803

Medium

Watercolor and graphite with reductive techniques

Department

Drawings and Prints

Credit line

Fletcher Fund, 2007