拍品專文
During the late 18th and 19th centuries, Netley Abbey was particularly admired for its picturesque qualities. Although the site is now clear to protect the fabric of the buildings, it was then in a state of 'carefully managed' picturesque neglect. Thomas Lee Drummer, who was commissioned to re-erect parts of the demolished north transept at Cranbury to form a sham ruin, took the opportunity to improve Netley Abbey's natural picturesqueness by 'a judicious management of trees, which have spontaneously sprung up among the mouldering walls'. These would have still been in place when Shayer painted this view.
It would, however, have been impossible for Shayer to have observed the exact scene he painted, for the main viewpoint is taken from the cloister, where much of the composition is obscured by the cloister wall. Apart from dispensing with this wall in the painting, Shayer appears to have cleverly composed the picture from various viewpoints and arranged them carefully to provide a picturesque setting.
Shayer's rejection of topographical accuracy was directly in line with the principles of the 'picturesque' as propounded by the Revd. William Gilpin who advised in an Essay on Picturesque Beauty of 1794: 'No beauty of light, colouring or execution, can alone [make up] for the want of composition... I take up a tree here, and plant it there. I pave a knoll, or make an addition to it. I remove a piece of pailing, a cottage, a wall, or any removable object that I dislike'.
Shayer painted a small number of views of the Abbey which were exhibited at the British Institution in 1831 and 1835, and at the Royal Manchester Institution in 1850. A similar composition to the above painting, but peopled by Travellers, was illustrated in The Shayer Family of Painters by Brian Stewart and Mervyn Cutten, 1981, p. 105, no. 25. The painting was sold at Christie's on 20 November, 1970, lot 273.
We are grateful to Dr. Timothy Barringer for his help in preparing this and the following entries.
It would, however, have been impossible for Shayer to have observed the exact scene he painted, for the main viewpoint is taken from the cloister, where much of the composition is obscured by the cloister wall. Apart from dispensing with this wall in the painting, Shayer appears to have cleverly composed the picture from various viewpoints and arranged them carefully to provide a picturesque setting.
Shayer's rejection of topographical accuracy was directly in line with the principles of the 'picturesque' as propounded by the Revd. William Gilpin who advised in an Essay on Picturesque Beauty of 1794: 'No beauty of light, colouring or execution, can alone [make up] for the want of composition... I take up a tree here, and plant it there. I pave a knoll, or make an addition to it. I remove a piece of pailing, a cottage, a wall, or any removable object that I dislike'.
Shayer painted a small number of views of the Abbey which were exhibited at the British Institution in 1831 and 1835, and at the Royal Manchester Institution in 1850. A similar composition to the above painting, but peopled by Travellers, was illustrated in The Shayer Family of Painters by Brian Stewart and Mervyn Cutten, 1981, p. 105, no. 25. The painting was sold at Christie's on 20 November, 1970, lot 273.
We are grateful to Dr. Timothy Barringer for his help in preparing this and the following entries.