Artwork

View of the Ruins of the Cloister, the Belfry of St. Mary's Church, and the Vicarage, Tilty

Kenneth Rowntree , 1942

View of the Ruins of the Cloister, the Belfry of St. Mary's Church, and the Vicarage, Tilty is a watercolor work on paper by the Social Realist artist Kenneth Rowntree. It dates from 1942 and is held in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum. View of the Ruins of the Cloister, the Belfry of St.

About this work

The watercolor shows the last bits of Tilty Abbey, an old monastery Henry VIII destroyed in the 1500s.

Kenneth Rowntree painted these ruins in 1942. The watercolor shows the last bits of Tilty Abbey, an old monastery Henry VIII destroyed in the 1500s. The fence around the stones is rusty, the only hint that people once lived here.

Rowntree focused on the cloister’s broken walls and the church’s belfry still standing. A quiet fence keeps the past just outside the frame.

Next, look up the artist, Kenneth Rowntree.

Overview

View of the Ruins of the Cloister, the Belfry of St. Mary's Church, and the Vicarage, Tilty is a watercolour painting by Kenneth Rowntree, created in 1942.

Subject & Meaning

The painting depicts the remains of Tilty Abbey, a Cistercian monastery founded in 1153 and demolished during Henry VIII's dissolution of the monasteries. The work captures the ruins of the cloister and the surviving belfry of the chapel, now St. Mary's Church.

Technique & Style

Rowntree's watercolour focuses on the textures of the broken walls and the contrast between the ruined cloister and the still-standing belfry, framed by a rusting fence that subtly demarcates the historical site.

St. Mary's Church, Tilty, Kenneth Rowntree

Artist & collection

Artist

Kenneth Rowntree

Kenneth Rowntree painted quiet British places in watercolour around 1940, from barn-stacked Essex fields to the carved oak pews of Caernarvonshire chapels.