Ruins of Glastonbury Abbey

Rooker excelled in the rendering of buildings. He did not use lines drawn in pen, but rather only a brush and ink or watercolour. He frequently populated his architectural scenes with peasants, labourers and cattle. They often lend his work a gently ironic tone. Glastonbury Abbey had been very prosperous until King Henry VIII dissolved all of the monasteries in 1536, after which most of them gradually went to ruin.