Paul Sandby Munn AOWS Bayham Abbey, Sussex

An original 1809 watercolour painting, Paul Sandby Munn AOWS, Bayham Abbey, Sussex.

A delicate work in sepia wash and graphite by Paul Sandby Munn AOWS (1773–1845), showing an arch at Bayham Abbey on the Kent Sussex border. Bayham Abbey, built in the 13th century, lies in the valley of the River Teise, and forms part of a site which includes the Dower house (otherwise known as Bayham Old Abbey House) and its formal and informal gardens.

The abbey became a ruin following its dissolution in 1536-7 and in the late 18th century was celebrated a picturesque feature in the landscape. In 1785 Hieronymus Grimm had sketched the abbey, emphasising the grand scale and picturesque character of its ivy-clad walls. Sandby Munn’s decision to include the gardener figure here, with rake and broom, is perhaps an allusion to the landscaping of the new Bayham Abbey mansion park by landscape designer Humphry Repton (1752–1818). Carried out in the early 19th century, the new landscaping included some modifications to the abbey, memorialised in one of Repton's famous ‘Red Books’, which he produced to present to his clients to showcase his design proposals. Repton described the landscaping at Bayham Abbey as the ‘Application of Gardening and Architecture united, in the formation of a new place’.

On paper laid down on original backing card with wah line and inscriptions.

Provenance: Abbott & Holder, 30 Museum Street, London & Spink & Son, 5, 6, 7, King Street, St James's, London.