Yale Center for British Art

Creator:
Thomas Creswick, 1811–1869, British
Title:
St. Michael's Mount, Cornwall
Date:
ca. 1838
Materials & Techniques:
Oil on panel
Dimensions:
9 x 6 3/4 inches (22.9 x 17.1 cm)
Credit Line:
Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection
Copyright Status:
Public Domain
Accession Number:
B1981.25.178
Classification:
Paintings
Collection:
Paintings and Sculpture
Subject Terms:
castle | ocean | ships | water | barrel | landscape | island | building | church | boats | mound | sea | sun | moon
Associated Places:
Saint Michael's Mount | Cornwall | England | United Kingdom
Currently On View:
Not on view
Exhibition History:
Art in Focus : The British Castle - A Symbol in Stone (Yale Center for British Art, 2017-04-07 - 2017-08-06)
Publications:
Malcolm Cormack, Concise Catalogue of Paintings in the Yale Center for British Art, Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, CT, 1985, pp. 72-73, N590.2 A83 (YCBA)

The British Castle : A Symbol in Stone, Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, 2017, pp. 23, 26, cat. 17, V2722 (YCBA)
Gallery Label:
St. Michael’s Mount is a small island off the coast of Cornwall crowned by a church and castle. This jewel-like painting captures the castle’s romantic setting, where twice a day, the tide recedes to allow access to the island via a cobblestone causeway. In legend, the archangel Michael guards England from a stone seat atop the mount; John Milton embraced that imagery in his famous poem from 1637, “Lycidas.” The artist, Thomas Creswick, was a member of the Birmingham School of landscape artists, which distinguished itself by a fascination with minute and accurate depictions of nature. Gallery label for Art in Focus: The British Castle - A Symbol in Stone (Yale Center for British Art, 2017-04-07 - 2017-08-06)
Link:
https://collections.britishart.yale.edu/catalog/tms:688