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Creator:
John Varley, 1778–1842
Title:

An Arch at Holy Island, Northumberland

Date:
1809
Medium:
Watercolor and graphite on thick, moderately textured, beige wove paper
Dimensions:
Sheet: 11 1/2 x 9 1/2 inches (29.2 x 24.1 cm)
Inscription(s)/Marks/Lettering:

Inscribed in pen with brown ink, lower left: "J. Varley 1809."; inscribed in pen, with brown ink, verso, lower left: "No 25 J. Varley Holy Island | inscribed in graphite, verso, lower left: "1A | 23592"

Signed and dated in pen and brown ink lower left: "J. Varley 1809."

Credit Line:
Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection
Copyright Status:
Public Domain
Accession Number:
B2001.2.1323
Classification:
Drawings & Watercolors
Collection:
Prints and Drawings
Subject Terms:
arches | architectural subject | children | clouds | dogs (animals) | genre subject | islands | masonry | stones | women | writing (processes)
Associated Places:
England | Holy Island | Northumberland | United Kingdom
Access:
Accessible by appointment in the Study Room [Request]
Note: The Study Room is open by appointment. Please visit the Study Room page on our website for more details.
Link:
https://collections.britishart.yale.edu/catalog/tms:46466
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John Varley fell under the spell of Thomas Girtin in his youth, and his view of An Arch at Holy Island readily betrays Girtin’s influence. Varley toured Northumberland in 18o8, when he must have made drawings of this archway at Lindisfarne Priory, looking out towards St. Cuthbert’s Island. Lindisfarne is a tidal island off the Northumberland coast that played a key role in the development of Christianity in Britain. This made it a required stopping point for eighteenth-century travelers on the picturesque itinerary through the north.

Gallery label for Great British Watercolors from the Paul Mellon Collection at the Yale Center for British Art (Yale Center for British Art, 2008-06-09 - 2008-08-17)

Great British Watercolors from the Paul Mellon Collection at the Yale Center for British Art (Yale Center for British Art, 2008-06-09 - 2008-08-17) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition] [Exhibition Description]

Great British Watercolors from the Paul Mellon Collection at the Yale Center for British Art (The State Hermitage Museum, 2007-10-23 - 2008-01-13) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition] [Exhibition Description]

Great British Watercolors from the Paul Mellon Collection at the Yale Center for British Art (Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, 2007-07-11 - 2007-09-30) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition] [Exhibition Description]

Yale Center for British Art, Great British watercolors : from the Paul Mellon Collection, Yale University Press, New Haven, 2007, pp. 124-25, no. 53, ND1928 .Y35 2007 (LC)+ Oversize (YCBA) [YCBA]


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