Valle Crucis Abbey, Denbighshire

Paul Sandby

1770–79 (?) · Reed pen, with gray and black ink and watercolor over graphite · Drawings and Prints

Sandby has been called the "father of British watercolor painting," and this watercolor ranks among his largest. The artist sketched in Wales in the 1770s and knew the region’s medieval architecture well but decided in this work to place the ruins of a thirteenth-century Cistercian abbey and chapter house in the background. Our attention is directed instead to Welsh long-horned cattle watering in a stream and framed by young and old trees that evoke the life cycle. Narrative action is supplied by two milkmaids, one of whom stands in safety with full buckets on a small bridge at left and watches a companion run from a bull in the field. Sandby uses monochrome washes, pen and ink, and touches of color to accentuate the animals and figures.

Artist

Paul Sandby

Date

1770–79 (?)

Medium

Reed pen, with gray and black ink and watercolor over graphite

Department

Drawings and Prints

Credit line

Purchase, Brooke Russell Astor Bequest, 2013