1758
ink
From the collection of National Gallery of Art
Ruined Abbey is a 1758 ink by Paul Sandby, a Romanticism work, held at National Gallery of Art.
This sketch shows a tall, broken tower with a cross on top, standing alone near a river. A few small figures walk around the ruins, and a bridge arches over the water in the background. Trees and distant buildings frame the scene, but everything looks worn and quiet. The artist used a rough, scratchy style to show decay—like the tower’s crumbling stones. This was made as a single etching in 1758, not painted. Next, look up etching to see how artists like this carved lines into metal plates.
Paul Sandby, (1731 – 7 November 1809) was an English mapmaker and painter who specialised in landscape art. Along with his older brother Thomas Sandby, he was one of the founding members of the Royal Academy in 1768.
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