229 - James Wilson Carmichael,

James Wilson Carmichael, British 1800-1868- Tintern Abbey; oil on canvas, signed and dated 'J.W. Carmichael / 1836' (lower left), 43.2 x 61 cm. Provenance: Anon. sale, Christie's, London, 15 May 1987, lot 26. Property of a Nobleman. Note: James Wilson Carmichael, also known as John Carmichael, was the son of a ship's carpenter and worked as an apprentice to a shipbuilding firm in his youth. He went on to set up a painting studio in Blackett Street at the age of 23 in his native Newcastle, sharing the space with the landscape painter Thomas Miles Richardson (1784-1848), who may have given the younger artist some training. Carmichael became a successful painter, and was particularly prolific as a maritime artist, exhibiting 21 works at the Royal Academy between 1835 and 1859. The present work depicts Tintern Abbey, a ruined Cistercian monastery situated on the Welsh bank of the River Wye in Monmouthshire. Founded in 1131 by Walter de Clare, Lord of Chepstow, the abbey was dissolved in the 16th century during the Dissolution of the Monasteries. Its picturesque ruins subsequently became a popular subject for artists, particularly during the 18th and 19th centuries.