Thomas Hearne, British, 1744-1817
Title: The Ruins of Malmesbury Abbey, Somerset, from the West Front (ill. for 'The Antiquities of Great Britan' 1807)
Date: 1780
Medium: Watercolour and ink on paper
Dimensions:
25.7 x 20 cm
Signed: lower left: Hearne 1870
Credit Line: Presented, Mr W.M. Smith, 1872
Object Number: NGI.2148
DescriptionLike many watercolourists of the period, Hearne began his artistic career as a printmaker's apprentice. During the 1770s, he was considered the leading topographical draughtsman of the day. This Somerset view was engraved in 1780 for The Antiquities of Great Britain, issued in two volumes between 1786 and 1807. Malmesbury Abbey was an important seventh century Benedictine foundation, rebuilt in the twelfth century and ruinous by the eighteenth century. Using soft grey washes, Hearne records the surviving parts of the west door and south nave arcade, paying great attention to the sculptural detail. In the 1790s, the young J.M.W. Turner and Thomas Girtin copied works by Hearne and other established artists at Dr Thomas Monro's 'Academy'.