John White Abbott
A Path through the Woods
c. 1785-1795
Physical Qualities
Pen and brown and gray ink with brush and gray ink over graphite on paper, Sheet: 256 x 335 mm. (10 1/16 x 13 3/16 in.)
Credit Line
Purchased as the gift of Rhoda Oakley, Baltimore
Object Number
2008.9
John White Abbott, a country surgeon and apothecary from Exeter, also was an amateur artist who painted for his own enjoyment. After inheriting an estate from his uncle, he was able to devote himself fulltime to painting. A Path through the Woods was originally part
of a sketchbook (notice the fold in the sheet). Abbott probably drew the image first in graphite pencil on the spot, and then returned to his studio to finish the work with gray washes and pen and ink.
The Baltimore Museum of Art by purchase, 2007; W/S Fine Art Ltd, London; private collection, London; Spink, King Street, London; from the artist's family
Ann Shafer, BMA, "Taking in the View: English Watercolors and Prints," 27 August - 7 December 2008.
Ann Shafer, 'A Donor's Passion Sparks English Landscapes Exhibition,' "Newsletter," The Print, Drawing & Photograph Society of The Baltimore Museum of Art, Vol. 26, No. 2, Fall 2008, p. 13.
BMA Today, Summer 2009, p. 10, ill.
