John White Abbott

Training under Francis Towne is recorded. The recorded working language is English. Subjects and genres recorded for the work are landscape. Work by John White Abbott is recorded in the collections of Tate, Royal Albert Memorial Museum & Art Gallery, Yale Center for British Art, Ashmolean Museum and Walker Art Gallery.

Abbott was born on 13 May 1763 at Cowick near Exeter, Devon. He came from a wealthy family, which owned many estates in Exeter, one of which he inherited in 1825. By profession a surgeon and apothecary, he was a keen amateur painter in both watercolour and oils. He studied in Exeter with Francis Towne, to whom he was also a friend and patron, and his watercolour style was based on Towne's. His work was primarily watercolour landscapes, for which he toured to the Lake District, along with oil history paintings. After inheriting an estate at the age of 62, he retired there and was appointed a deputy lieutenant of Devonshire in 1831. Abbott exhibited regularly at the Royal Academy between 1795 and 1805; he is last recorded exhibiting there in 1822. He had a series of etchings of his paintings created which was nearly complete at the time of his death. He made a sketching tour to Scotland and the Lake District in 1791. It is believed Abbott never sold any of his paintings, and most of his works were retained by his family until well into the 20th century. Despite this, in his lifetime he was better known than his teacher, Francis Towne, some of whose Italian views he copied.

• Illustration — Gowbarrow Park, Ullswater, Cumbria, watercolour, 1791 • Illustration — Near the Quay, Exeter, watercolour, 1800s • Illustration — Macbeth recoiling from the apparition of the crowned child, oil, 1829 • Illustration — Prospero commanding Ariel, oil, 1829 • Illustration — The Remains of Exeter Castle, pen and ink on paper, 1800s • Illustration — Entrance to the grounds of the Bishop's Palace, Exeter behind the first house in Southernhay, pen and ink on paper, 1814 • Illustration — An Italianate Landscape, oil, 1800 • Illustration — Bickleigh Court in Mid Devon, watercolor, 1803

John White Abbott is recorded as a citizen of United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Recorded with the occupation landscape painter. Classed in the genre landscape painting. Recognition and collections.