Signed l.r.: John Piper and inscribed with title and dated l.l.: Mattersey Priory/ 26.v.76

Watercolour over wax resist, pen and ink and pencil, 35 by 49 cm

Mattersey Priory is the ruin of a former Gilbertine monastery that stands to the east of the village of the same name next to the River Idle in Nottinghamshire. As well as the present painting, Piper took a dramatic photograph of the priory which also focuses on the bleak, windswept setting of the subject matter. The artist himself donated his negative for photograph to the Tate Archive in 1987 (inv.TGA 8728/27/26).