Cleveland Museum of Art

Leigh Tor Rocks at Poundsgate, near New Bridge on the Dart, Devon

John White Abbott

Date

1800

Medium

watercolor with pen and black ink and traces of graphite underdrawing

Culture

England, 19th century

Department

Drawings

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

This closely observed watercolor was made in Dartmoor—an expanse of moorland in southwest England capped with a series of more than 100 exposed granite hilltops known as "tors," ranging from the monolithic to the nondescript. John White Abbott chose a low vantage point that accentuated the looming immensity of the outcrop in whose shelter a herd of cows has converged. Almost austere in its lack of superfluous detail, this small sheet suggests the untamed quality of the Devon moors. In addition to working as a watercolorist, John White Abbott served professionally as an apothecary and surgeon.

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