Bolton Abbey (c. late 1840s-1857): Art, History and Details

Bolton Abbey (c. late 1840s-1857) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is David Cox (British, 1783–1859).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

This moody, broadly painted watercolor on rough, brown paper is emblematic of David Cox’s late style. Velvety grays and greens throughout the composition shift almost imperceptibly and streaks of blue wash, describing the distant hills and sky, are pierced by a sliver of brilliant yellow at the horizon. The ruined 12th-century priory is relegated to the background, nearly lost in the twilight.

Object facts

• Title: Bolton Abbey
• Date: c. late 1840s-1857
• Creator attribution: David Cox (British, 1783–1859)
• Culture: England, 19th century
• Type: Drawing
• Technique: watercolor with black chalk
• Dimensions: Sheet: 48.8 x 75.4 cm (19 3/16 x 29 11/16 in.)
• Collection: DR - British
• Department: Drawings
• Accession number: 1940.552

A detail from the museum

The neighborhood where Bolton Abbey was found was one of David Cox's favorite places to paint and the church appeared as a subject throughout his works from about 1828 through 1857.

Collection credit

Bequest of James Parmelee

Further reading listed by the museum

• Francis, Henry S. "The Bequest of James Parmelee." Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 28, no. 2 (February 1941): 15-27, 31.
• Brumbaugh, Thomas B. "David Cox in American Collections." Connoisseur 197, no. 792 (February 1978): 83-88.
• Lemonedes, Heather. British Drawings: The Cleveland Museum of Art. Exh. Cat. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2013.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.