Leigh Tor Rocks at Poundsgate, near New Bridge on the Dart, Devon

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Artist: John White Abbott (British, 1763–1851)
Medium: Watercolor with pen and black ink and traces of graphite underdrawing
Size: Image: 16 x 24.7 cm (6 5/16 x 9 3/4 in.); Sheet: 17.9 x 26.9 cm (7 1/16 x 10 9/16 in.)
Culture: England, 19th century
Museum: Cleveland Museum of Art
Rights: CC0 — no rights reserved

This closely observed watercolor was made in Dartmoor—an expanse of moorland in southwest England capped with a series of more than 100 exposed granite hilltops known as "tors," ranging from the monolithic to the nondescript. John White Abbott chose a low vantage point that accentuated the looming immensity of the outcrop in whose shelter a herd of cows has converged. Almost austere in its lack of superfluous detail, this small sheet suggests the untamed quality of the Devon moors.