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Supporting museums Art we've helped buy The Ruins of Glastonbury Abbey, with Figures and Livestock in the Foreground, and Glastonbury Tor Beyond
The Ruins of Glastonbury Abbey, with Figures and Livestock in the Foreground, and Glastonbury Tor Beyond The Ruins of Glastonbury Abbey, with Figures and Livestock in the Foreground, and Glastonbury Tor Beyond

The Ruins of Glastonbury Abbey, with Figures and Livestock in the Foreground, and Glastonbury Tor Beyond

George Arnald

Art Funded
2006
Dimensions
120 x 147 cm
Art Fund grant
£10,393 (Total: £24,000)
Vendor
Christie's
The ruins of Glastonbury Abbey exerted a powerful hold on the Romantic imagination and were frequently depicted in art.

This painting is among the best known images of the Abbey transformed by the prism of Romanticism and one of Arnald's most atmospheric works. Strong chiaroscuro dramatises the composition, in which the picturesque ruins are illuminated by a shaft of golden light breaking through a stormy sky, and the eye is led from the bucolic cattle and sheep in the foreground to the distant tor.

Provenance

Henry Brandreth; Dr R. G. Apthorpe; Sotheby's, 1984; Christie's, 1985; Christie's, 2006.

Oil on canvas

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The Museum of Somerset

Taunton Castle, Castle Green, Taunton, Somerset, TA1 4AA
01823 255088
Website

Opening times

Tue – Sat, 10am – 5pm (last entry 4.30pm) Open Bank Holiday Mon Closed one week in Jan, see website for details

Art we’ve helped buy at The Museum of Somerset

View of Dunster Castle
 Acquired 1955
The Vale from Cucklington
 Acquired 2016
The Sluggard
 Acquired 2004
The Ruins of Glastonbury Abbey, with Figures and Livestock in the Foreground, and Glastonbury Tor Beyond
 Acquired 2006
The Bruton Sword
 Acquired 1986
Statue of Harmony
 Acquired 1994
Silver-gilt beaker
 Acquired 1977
Shapwick Hoard
 Acquired 2000
Sculpture Depicting St Peter
 Acquired 2014
Priddy Hoard
 Acquired 2007
Portrait of a Gentleman
 Acquired 1936
Oyster Dredgers at Porlock Weir, Somerset
 Acquired 2015
Nether Stowey Hoard
 Acquired 2010
Frome Hoard
 Acquired 2011
Four silver spoons
 Acquired 2003
Edward the Confessor Penny
 Acquired 1984
Collection of seven pieces of Taunton Silver
 Acquired 1970
Collection of Chinese porcelain
 Acquired 1985

Image credit

1 . The Ruins of Glastonbury Abbey, with Figures and Livestock in the Foreground, and Glastonbury Tor Beyond

© The Museum of Somerset

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