St. Wulfran, Abbeville, from the River

Abbeville had been one of Ruskin’s favourite haunts since his first visit on the continental tour of 1835. He particularly admired the late Gothic style in evidence at the church of St Wulfran: in 1848 he had visited Salisbury shortly before travelling to Abbeville, and was struck by the heady contrast between the severity of Early English and the “luscious richness” of the porch of St Wulfran. His displayed this picture along with several others at his lecture ‘The Flamboyant Architecture of the Valley of the Somme,’ given at the Royal Institution on 29 January 1869.