Interior of Melrose Abbey
Cotman, Rievaulx Abbey, Yorkshire, 1810. etching.
Pins mark where to look before you draw.
The Cleveland Museum of Art · John L. Severance Fund
Interior of Melrose Abbey
A nave in one point: the plate we have not found a scan of
Forrest etched the interior of Melrose Abbey (the dealer's record: signed and titled in pencil, remounted in its original frame), but no scan of the plate has been found. The study is still worth doing: a ruined abbey interior is a one-point nave with pointed arcades on both sides, the vault open to the sky, and the east window as the light at the end. Work from Cotman's Rievaulx (shown) and from photographs of Melrose's nave, and if you ever find Forrest's plate, send it in and it will replace this cover.
- Master
- Robert Smith Forrest
- Difficulty
- Time
- about 3.5 h
- You draw with
- H, HB, 2B, 4B graphite
Why this one
- A nave in one point is the architectural interior problem, and Melrose is the finest Gothic interior in Scotland.
- The study stands in honestly for a plate that exists but is not yet seen.
From your kit
The whole kit →- 1Grafwood H, HB, 2B, 4B H, HB for layout and line; 2B, 4B for the darks. Long points from the Blackwing on everything up to B.
- 2Kneaded eraser and the Mono Zero press-and-lift corrections only; the Mono Zero for a single sharp light.
- 3Alpha sketchbook 9 x 6 draw at the book's size and keep the proportions; date the page.
In general, this study asks for
- Drawing pad or smooth cartridge
- 2H and H with long points
- HB for accents
- Kneaded eraser
- Sandpaper block
Watch first
All videos →A street in one point from a blank page. The Old College Wynd set-up.
YouTube
Gothic archesTech Drawing for Carpentry and Joinery · Equilateral, lancet and drop arches constructed properly with a compass.
Cotman in Normandy: curator's lectureDulwich Picture Gallery · Timothy Wilcox on the Normandy tours and the Architectural Antiquities etchings. The architectural half of this course, explained by its curator.The plan
4 stages · ~160 min- 1
Find a nave photograph
10 minOpen the Historic Environment Scotland page (link) and find a photograph looking east down the nave. Prop it beside the board.
Checklist0 / 1 - 2
One point and the arcades
50 minEye level, vanishing point at the east end. Piers as plumb verticals shrinking by the diagonal. Each arcade arch constructed in its receding opening.
Checklist0 / 2 - 3
East window and tone
80 minThe east window as the light: tracery suggested by dark shapes between bars. Tone: near piers darkest, far lightest. Vault open to the sky.
Checklist0 / 2 - 4
Audit
20 minSquint. Does the nave recede to the light? Box.
Checklist0 / 1
What it should look like
- A ruined nave that runs away from you to a bright window, with arcades that shrink correctly.
Where it goes wrong
- Piers evenly spaced. Ruler. Diagonal method. They shrink.
Log this session
Start the clock when you pick up the pencil. Stop it when you put it down. Log it. Every session counts toward the box.
Status
How did it go?
Before this, ideally
