- Description
-
- Creator(s)
- (?) Thomas Girtin (1775-1802)
- Title
-
- A Castle Beside a River
- Date
- 1800 - 1801
- Medium and Support
- Graphite and watercolour on laid paper
- Dimensions
- 12.9 × 15.7 cm, 5 ⅛ × 6 ⅛ in
- Object Type
- Colour Sketch: Studio Work
- Subject Terms
- Castle Ruins; River Scenery
-
- Collection
- Catalogue Number
- TG1782
- Description Source(s)
- Viewed in March 2022
Provenance
Martyn Gregory; his sale, Christie's, 10–24 March 2022, lot 145ii, £4,032 (with TG1780)
Other entries in Later Sketches:
Taken on the Spot and Worked in the Studio
Mountain Scenery, Said to Be near Beddgelert (page 15, reverse, of the Whitworth Book of Drawings)
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester
The Valley of the Glaslyn, near Beddgelert (page 15 of the Whitworth Book of Drawings)
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester
Trees in a Glade Overlooking a Lake
Private Collection
An Extensive Landscape with the Ruins of Mitford Castle
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
Plumpton Rocks, near Knaresborough
Private Collection
A Parkland Landscape with Cattle and Sheep
Private Collection
John Raphael Smith: 'Waiting for the Mail Coach' (mounted on page 1 of the Whitworth Book of Drawings)
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester
Chelsea Reach, Looking towards Battersea (page 11 of the Whitworth Book of Drawings)
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester
The Stables, Plompton Park (page 17 of the Whitworth Book of Drawings)
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester
Harewood House, from the South West (page 18 of the Whitworth Book of Drawings)
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester
Grimbald Bridge, near Knaresborough (page 20 of the Whitworth Book of Drawings)
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester
The Abbey Mill, near Knaresborough (page 25 of the Whitworth Book of Drawings)
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester
A Farmhouse in Malhamdale, Known as 'Kirkby Priory, near Malham' (page 26 of the Whitworth Book of Drawings)
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester
Sandsend (page 29 of the Whitworth Book of Drawings)
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester
Grimbald Crag, near Knaresborough (page 30 of the Whitworth Book of Drawings)
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester
A Crag on the River Nidd (page 31 of the Whitworth Book of Drawings)
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester
Guisborough Priory: The Ruined East End (page 33 of the Whitworth Book of Drawings)
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester
Stepping Stones on the River Wharfe
British Museum, London
An Interior View of the Choir of Bolton Priory
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
Bolton Abbey, from the River Wharfe (page 37 of the Whitworth Book of Drawings)
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester
Bolton Abbey: The East End of the Priory Church, from across the River Wharfe (page 38 of the Whitworth Book of Drawings)
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester
The East End of Bolton Priory Church (pages 38–39 of the Whitworth Book of Drawings)
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester
A Distant View of Middleham Castle, with the River Ure in the Foreground (page 41 of the Whitworth Book of Drawings)
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester
Middleham Village, with the Castle Beyond (page 42 of the Whitworth Book of Drawings)
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester
A Village at the Bend of a River, Probably in Yorkshire (page 44 of the Whitworth Book of Drawings)
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester
Beached Vessels at Low Tide (page 46 of the Whitworth Book of Drawings)
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester
Five Craft off the Coast on a Calm Sea (page 47 of the Whitworth Book of Drawings)
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester
Shipping off the Coast on a Calm Sea (page 48 of the Whitworth Book of Drawings)
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester
The Ruins of Old Mulgrave Castle (page 49 of the Whitworth Book of Drawings)
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester
Mulgrave Park and Castle, from near Epsyke Farm
British Museum, London
The River Nidd between Knaresborough and Wetherby
Rhode Island School of Design Museum, Providence
Kirkstall Abbey, with a Canal Barge
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
The River Nidd, between Knaresborough and Wetherby
Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle upon Tyne
The Valley of the Tweed, with Melrose Abbey in the Distance
Private Collection
A Clump of Trees by the Waterside
Private Collection
A Torrent by a Clump of Trees
Harvard Art Museums / Fogg Museum, Loan from George and Patti White
A River Valley and a Distant Hill Seen through Trees
Clark Art Institute, Williamstown
A Shady Road Leading to Cottages
British Museum, London
A Church in a Village, Possibly at Radwinter
British Museum, London
A Building with a Tall Chimney, next to a Stream
British Museum, London
Landscape with a Farmhouse and Cottage
Private Collection
A Schooner near the Shore
Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
A Coast Scene with Two Beached Vessels
Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
A Shipping Study: Five Craft on a Calm Sea
British Museum, London
Footnotes
- 1 The financial records of John Girtin, covering the income he received from the Eidometropolis and the twenty aquatints of the Picturesque Views in Paris, together with a detailed account of the expenses from both projects as well as various loans he made to Thomas Girtin, are transcribed in the Documents section of the Archive (1804 – Item 2).
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About this Work
This is one of two small colour sketches of river scenery on paper of similar dimensions that appear to date from towards the end of Girtin’s life (the other being TG1780). Although the works might be linked together as a pair on stylistic and thematic grounds, the likelihood is that they simply came from the same source, possibly one of the ‘4 little Books partly of sketches and partly blank paper’ that John Girtin (1773–1821) discovered in his brother’s studio after his death (Chancery – Income and Expenses, 1804).1 It seems that John, who must at one point have owned several hundred of the artist’s sketches, including many that he appropriated to recoup the substantial sums of money he had lent his brother, was responsible for splitting up the ‘little Books’ for sale (Smith, 2017–18, pp.35–36). It is, however, unlikely that drawings such as this were sketched from nature and what has all the appearance of an imaginary scene was produced instead to meet the demand from collectors for examples of the more informal side of the artist’s output rather than being a topographical record of one of the nation’s castle ruins. It is clear, therefore, that the apparent dispatch with which they were produced was not a result of Girtin seeking to record a transient natural effect; rather it was about creating attractive small-scale commodities from which a sympathetic collector, probably an amateur artist themselves, might benefit by example. That the speed with which the work was created is illusory is suggested by the extensive use of multiple layers of wash, each of which would have had to dry before the artist could proceed, as well as by the even level of completion across the sheet, with no areas left unfinished as typically occurs when working in the field. Any lingering doubts about the attribution of the work to Girtin are allayed by the characteristic palette employed in its production and by an attractive element of pattern making that is a common byproduct of the artist’s studio sketches.
1800 - 1801
A Horse Drinking from a River
TG1780