Inside the East End of Nettley Abbey (1794): Art, History and Details

Inside the East End of Nettley Abbey (1794) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Michel Angelo Rooker (British, 1746–1801).

The work and its context

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

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 windows wrapped round and round with ivy—many trees are sprouted up against the walls and want only to be increased with cypresses! In short, they are not the ruins of Netley, but of Paradise." Michael Angelo Rooker’s drawing gives form to Walpole’s description of his magical visit to the ruined abbey.

Object facts

• Title: Inside the East End of Nettley Abbey
• Date: 1794
• Creator attribution: Michel Angelo Rooker (British, 1746–1801)
• Culture: England, 18th century
• Type: Drawing
• Technique: gray wash with extensive point of brush with traces of graphite; squared with graphite
• Dimensions: Overall: 23.5 x 30.2 cm (9 1/4 x 11 7/8 in.)
• Collection: DR - British
• Department: Drawings
• Accession number: 2005.199

A detail from the museum

Netley Abbey, seen in this drawing, was a popular subject in art and literature at the time Michael Angelo Rooker depicted it.

Collection credit

Gift of the Painting and Drawing Society of The Cleveland Museum of Art

Further reading listed by the museum

• Conner, Patrick. Michael Angelo Rooker, 1746-1801. London:Victoria & Albert Museum, 1984.
• Lemonedes, Heather. "Quintessentially British." Cleveland Art (July/August 2007).
• 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.