Near Holne on the Dart, with Bench Tor in the distance

The artist here responds to a site in Devon's Dart Valley, near Holne, on the southern edge of Darmoor, the view centered on the distinctive profile of Bench Tor (or Bensetor, Benchy Tor and Benshe Tor), a distant mountain with the River Dart in the foreground. A native of Exeter in Devon, White Abbott earned his living as an apothecary and surgeon. His artistic practice was shaped by the watercolorist Francis Towne (1739-1816), whose enthusiastic student, follower, and patron Abbott became. Mostly working in England's west country, Abbott adopted Towne's characteristic pen outlines to define delicate colored washes and, in maturity equalled and even surpassed his friend in subtle mondulation of tone. Here, he chose pale gray ink for the lines to minimize their contrast with color gradations and omitted them entirely in shadowed areas and in the sky. The tone progress evocatively from cool blue to warm yellow and back again in a masterful demonstration of watercolor's capacity to record the play of light over form.