The Great Gate of St. Augustine's Monastery, Canterbury
Date:
1757
Materials & Techniques:
Watercolor with pen and gray ink over graphite on thick, textured, cream laid paper on contemporary mount
Dimensions:
Sheet: 8 1/8 × 15 3/16 inches (20.6 × 38.6 cm)
Credit Line:
Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection
Copyright Status:
Public Domain
Accession Number:
B1975.4.1734
Gallery Label:
Although they seldom had the cachet of imaginary landscapes, most early watercolors were topographical in nature. Jonathan Skelton’s view of the ruins of St. Augustine’s Monastery in Canterbury is typical in both its antiquarian subject and its technique of low-toned washes of color combined with pen. Nevertheless, Skelton’s use of watercolor is highly sophisticated. The dark foreground giving way to a lighter middle ground suggests his study of seventeenth-century Dutch landscapes. Skelton’s watercolors showed an early promise that was never to be fulfilled. In 1758 he left England to study in Italy. This ought to have provided an excellent foundation for his career, but he died suddenly in Rome the following year. Gallery label for Great British Watercolors from the Paul Mellon Collection at the Yale Center for British Art (Yale Center for British Art, 2008-06-09 - 2008-08-17)
