Inside the East End of Nettley Abbey
Medium
gray wash with extensive point of brush with traces of graphite; squared with graphite
Dimensions
23.5 × 30.2 cm
Classification
Drawing
Department
Drawings
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
Gift of the Painting and Drawing Society of The Cleveland Museum of Art
Accession Number
2005.199
Tags
About this artwork
By the end of the 18th century, Britain’s medieval ruins had become popular tourist destinations and a rich source of inspiration for Romantic poets and painters, establishing a veritable "cult of ruins." Decaying Gothic architecture set in overgrown landscapes conjured thoughts of the transience of human ambition in the context of eternal nature. In 1755, the writer and Whig politician Horace Walpole described Netley Abbey: "The ruins are vast . . . with all variety of Gothic patterns of window...