Public collection via the Cleveland Museum of Art
AT-00011111Bolton Abbey
by David Cox
About the Artwork
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.
Inscriptions
inscribed, at lower right, in graphite: WSE; in white chalk on wood backing: June 8-03
Provenance
1912: (sale, Victor G. Fischer Company Collection, Anderson Galleries, New York, February 19, 1912, no. 655) ?-1931: James Parmelee [1855-1931], Washington, DC, by descent to Alice Maury Parmelee 1931-1940: Alice Maury Parmelee [1866-1940], Washington, DC, bequeathed to the Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH through the Estate of James Parmelee 1940-: Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
Exhibition history
The Silver Jubilee Exhibition. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 23-September 28, 1941). European Watercolors Through the 18th Century. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (January 14-March 22, 1964). British Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art . The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 10-May 26, 2013).
Data retrieved from the Cleveland Museum of Art on October 8, 2026. The museum may have updated its record since.
Quick Overview
- Artist
- David Cox (British, 1783–1859)
- Date
- c. late 1840s-1857
- Medium
- watercolor with black chalk
- Dimensions
- Sheet: 48.8 x 75.4 cm (19 3/16 x 29 11/16 in.)
- Type
- Drawing
- Classification
- Drawing
- Department
- Drawings
- Credit line
- Bequest of James Parmelee
- Accession no.
- 1940.552
More by David Cox in museum collections
Open-access museum record · AT-00011111
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