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Sheepstor and village, Devon

Maker

(artist)
1764-1851

Title

Date of Production

(21 September) 1831

Medium

graphite, pen and brown ink, watercolour on wove paper, laid down on a historic wash mount

Dimensions

Height: 21.3 cm
Width: 29.6 cm

Accession Number

D.1967.WS.1

Mode of Acquisition

William Wycliffe Spooner, bequest, 1967

Credit

The Courtauld, London (Samuel Courtauld Trust)

Copyright

Work in the public domain

Location

Not currently on display

Keywords

Label Text

Abbott was an amateur artist who spent his working life in Exeter as an apothecary and surgeon. The scenery of Devon had long appealed to painters by the time Abbott came to make this drawing; many, like him, were attracted by the rocky tors that were a characteristic feature of Dartmoor. In this highly finished watercolour, the massive, strongly lit granite outcrop of Sheepstor in the foreground contrasts with the green middle distance and the blue of the receding hills — a somewhat conventional pictorial structure for this late date.

Notes

There are three other known drawings by Abbott of the same date and location.

Provenance

William Wycliffe Spooner, Ilkley (1882-1967); Spooner Bequest 1967

Exhibition History

British Watercolours from the Spooner Collection, Huntington Museum and Art Gallery, Los Angeles, 12/02/2005-15/05/2005

British Watercolours from the Spooner Collection, Huntington Museum of Art, Los Angeles, 12/02/2005-15/05/2005; Wordsworth Trust, Grasmere, 18/07/2005-23/10/2005; Hermitage Rooms, Somerset House, London, 16/11/2005-12/02/2006

A Passion for Drawings, Collectors at the Courtauld, The Courtauld Gallery, London, 28/02/2002-09/06/2002 ...More

The William Spooner Collection and Bequest, The Courtauld Gallery, London, 1974

English Watercolours: The Spooner Collection and Bequest, City Art Gallery, Bristol, 11/05/1973-02/06/1973

Masters of the Watercolour - Watercolours from the Spooner
Collection, Holburne Museum of Art, Bath, 1969

The William Spooner Collection and Bequest, The Courtauld Gallery, London, 01/04/1968-01/07/1968

English Water-Colours: Memorial Exhibition to William Wycliffe
Spooner, Harrogate, 1968 ...Less

Literature

English Water-Colours: Memorial Exhibition to William Wycliffe Spooner, Harrogate, 1968
cat. no. 26

The William Spooner Collection and Bequest, Courtauld Gallery, London, 1968
cat. no. 36

Masters of the Watercolour - Watercolours from the Spooner Collection, Holburne Museum of Art, Bath, 1969
cat. no. 3 ...More

English Watercolours: The Spooner Collection and Bequest, City Art Gallery, Bristol, 1973
cat. no. 3

The William Spooner Collection and Bequest, Courtauld Gallery, London, 1974
cat. no. 17

The Spooner Collection of British Watercolours, Courtauld Institute Galleries; Huntington Library; Wordsworth Trust, 2005-06
cat. no. 46
ill. on p. 165 ...Less

Inscriptions

Watermark: Watermarks: none in the drawing. Support (historic), Verso: left centre edge, cut off: “J WHATMAN / TURKEY MILL”.

Collector's mark: none.

Inscription: Mount (original), Verso: upper centre, graphite: "Cost / pfffL (?) / sells 953/955/ -"; below that, .brown ink, signed and dated by the artist with his monogram: "Sheep Tor & Village. Devon. JWA Sept. 21. 1831."; below that, graphite, underlined: "6414".

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