Francis Pierrepont Barnard (1854–1931) was a great-grandson of Thomas Girtin. He inherited a group of works by the artist from his mother, Mary Hog Barnard (1829–99), who had acquired them by a family settlement from her father, Thomas Calvert Girtin (1801–74). The bulk of Barnard’s collection was bought around 1912, however, when the substantial group of drawings commissioned from Girtin by the artist’s earliest patron, James Moore (1762–99), was dispersed in a series of private sales. The bequest of this material to the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford in 1934, along with the works from the family collection, means that the museum’s holdings provide the best introduction to Girtin’s earliest years and, specifically, to the demand for watercolour views from antiquarians. Characteristic examples include An Interior View of the Ruins of the Savoy Hospital (TG0348), Dunnottar Castle in a Thunderstorm (TG0150) and Byland Abbey (TG0087).

1795 - 1796

An Interior View of the Ruins of the Savoy Hospital

TG0348

1792 - 1793

Dunnottar Castle in a Thunderstorm

TG0150

1792 - 1793

Byland Abbey

TG0087