Based on the Dutch tradition of scenes of church interiors, this delightful (if slightly wobbly) view east along the choir of Westminster Abbey records a number of comparatively recent improvements. Dean Neile's pews or "prebends' stalls" were built in 1606. The benefactor Dr. Richard Busby paid for the choir to be paved with slabs of black and white marble, work that was completed in 1687. On the north side of the nave (to the left), is the "stately organ gilt" that is chiefly associated with the organists John Blow (1648?-1708), William Croft (ca. 1678-1727), and above all Henry Purcell (1659-1695). The pulpit is built against the southwest corner of the crossing of the choir and transept (to the right).
-
Accession Number
B1976.7.183
-
Title
The Interior of Westminster Abbey
-
Date
ca. 1714
-
Materials & Techniques
Oil on canvas
-
Dimensions
48 1/8 x 38 1/2 inches (122.2 x 97.8 cm)
-
Credit Line
Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection
-
Copyright Status
-
Classification
Paintings
-
Collection
Paintings and Sculpture
-
Link to Frame
-
Subject Terms
abbey | aisle | altar | arches | architectural subject | architecture | cathedral | choir | church | costume | genre subject | Gothic (Medieval) | hall | interior | men | nave | organ | pews | priest | pulpit | stalls | transept | vaulting | visitors | windows | women
-
Associated Places
City of Westminster | England | Greater London | London | United Kingdom | Westminster Abbey
-
Access
Not on view
-
Link
-
Export
-
IIIF Manifest
Malcolm Cormack, Concise Catalogue of Paintings in the Yale Center for British Art, Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, CT, 1985, pp. 32-33, N590.2 .A83 (YCBA) [YCBA]
If you have information about this object that may be of assistance please contact us.