Lea Castle, View in Tilt-Court, Facing North
ca. 1816
Medium
Brush and gray and brown ink, over graphite
Dimensions
sheet: 10 9/16 x 9 3/4 in. (26.8 x 24.8 cm)
Classification
Drawings|Ornament & Architecture
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 1956
Accession Number
56.601(4)
Tags
Art Historical Context
This evocative drawing by John Carter captures a northern view of the tilt-court at Lea Castle, an architectural space historically used for medieval jousting tournaments. Created around 1816, the work reflects Carter’s lifelong dedication to documenting Britain’s Gothic heritage. As a leading antiquarian draughtsman of his era, Carter traveled extensively to record historic buildings with precision and sensitivity, contributing to the growing appreciation of medieval architecture during the Romantic period. Executed in brush and gray and brown ink over graphite, the sheet demonstrates the ar...
About the Artist
John Carter
John Carter RA, born in 1942 in Hampton Hill, Middlesex, emerged as a pivotal figure in British abstract art through his innovative sculptures. He began his formal training at Twickenham School of Art from 1958 to 1959, followed by Kingston School of Art from 1959 to 1963, where he studied under the influential painter Terry Frost. A Leverhulme Travelling Scholarship then took him to Italy, enabli...