Neath Abbey

c. 1840s

Neath Abbey, c. 1840s. Peter De Wint (British, 1784–1849). Watercolor with traces of graphite underdrawing and scratch-away; overall: 16 x 23.6 cm (6 5/16 x 9 5/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of the Painting and Drawing Society of The Cleveland Museum of Art 2005.198 Among the key artists of the golden age of watercolor painting in England, Peter DeWint was known for his panoramic views of spacious, seemingly commonplace landscapes rendered in broad washes of earth-tone hues. This drawing depicts the ruins of Neath Abbey, a Cistercian monastery established in the early 12th century in south Wales. From the Tudor period there was industrial activity around the abbey, and by the time DeWint was painting the priory, the Neath Abbey Iron Company had engulfed the environs of the church with copper smelting and manufacture. DeWint chose to omit evidence of the transformation of the area and its role in the Industrial Revolution. Peter DeWint traveled abroad only once, to Normandy, and was disappointed with the landscape outside of his native England.