Object number1883.2.3
Monastic England, Tintern Abbey
Portfolio/SeriesThird in the series History of England
Date1882
Artist
William Trost Richards
(American, 1833-1905)
CultureAmerican
MediumWatercolor
DimensionsImage: 10 1/4 x 16 1/8 in. (26 x 41 cm)
Mount: 11 13/16 x 17 15/16 in. (30 x 45.5 cm)
Mount: 11 13/16 x 17 15/16 in. (30 x 45.5 cm)
Credit LineGift of Elias Lyman Magoon
On View
Not on viewPeriod19th c
Classification(s)
SignedOn recto, signed lower left corner in watercolor: Wm.T.Richards.
InscribedOn recto, by artist, lower left corner in watercolor: 1882.
ProvenanceCommissioned by Dr. E. L. Magoon and presented to Vassar CollegeLabel TextIn 1882, the American painter William Trost Richards completed a series of seven watercolors featuring notable English landmarks, each representing a distinct historical or allegorical theme. Richards had toured and sketched these sites during his travels in Britain from 1878 to 1880. Elias Magoon, a dedicated collector of Richards’ work and one of Vassar’s founding trustees, commissioned these paintings and later donated them to the college. For Monastic England, the artist chose Tintern Abbey in South Wales. Founded in 1131 and rebuilt in the thirteenth century, the abbey was a soaring model of British Gothic architecture. However, the site was abandoned and left to ruin after the fifteenth century. By the time Richards traveled to Tintern, the ivy-covered monastery had become a favored tourist destination, popularized by Romantic artists and poets of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
DescriptionA depiction of the remains of Tintern Abbey with the surrounding town as it appears from the other side of the River Wye. A few boats dot the river and foothills bank the sides of the composition, enclosed by the clouds above.
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