Monks Meadow To Fountains Abbey

Description

• Title: Monks’ Meadow To Fountains
• Medium: Oil
• Substrate: 12 oz cotton canvas
• Size: 100cm x 120cm
• Style: Contemporary
• Frame: Yes
• Prints Available: Yes

Nestled in the valley of the little river Laver near Ripon lie the magnificent ruins of Fountains Abbey. Fountains is a World Heritage Site not far from David Stead Gallery and a place drawn and painted numerous times by David. It was founded in 1132 by Archbishop Thurston of York and a band of thirteen monks in search of privation – the site suited them well. Over time as Fountains grew it became one of the largest and most powerful corporations in Britain and from the thirteenth to the fifteenth century there was hardly any sphere of economic activity with which the monks of Fountains were not concerned.

The Abbey was painted several times by Thomas Girtin in 1799 and a couple of years before that the great JMW Turner himself painted it on his  1797 tour of the North of England a tour that took in Derbyshire, Yorkshire, Durham, Northumberland, The Scottish Borders, The Lake District, Lancashire and Lincolnshire, and all this at the age of 22.

It must have been a marvellous adventure for the young artist from Covent Garden in London, travelling by horse, coach and boat to reach some of England’s wildest, most beautiful and inaccessible places.

An original oil painting by David Stead, this beautiful work is also available as a limited edition print on deep profile, archival quality canvas. The print is limited to an edition of only 150 and comes with a certificate of authentication.