- Description
-
- Creator(s)
- Thomas Girtin (1775-1802)
- Title
-
- A Distant View of Corfe Castle
- Date
- 1795 - 1796
- Medium and Support
- Graphite and watercolour on wove paper
- Dimensions
- 8 × 12.4 cm, 3 ⅛ × 4 ⅞ in
- Subject Terms
- Castle Ruins; The West Country: Devon and Dorset
-
- Collection
- Catalogue Number
- TG0365a
- Description Source(s)
- Viewed in 2019
Provenance
Dr Thomas Monro (1759–1833); his posthumous sale, possibly Christie's, 26 June 1833, lot 80 or lot 83 as 'Views and ruins, in colours, on cards 20' by 'Turner'; ... Charles Morland Agnew (1855–1931); his widow, Evelyn Mary Agnew (d.1932); her posthumous sale, Christie’s, 24 March 1933, lot 18 as 'Loch Lomond; Kelso Abbey; and Corfe Castle, three in one frame'; bought by 'T. Agnew', £3 13s 6d; Thos. Agnew & Sons; John Ross; then by descent; Christie's, 2 July 2019, lot 179, £2,000
Place depicted
Other entries in Topography without Travel:
The British Landscape at Second Hand

Windsor Castle, from the River Thames
Untraced Works

Windsor Castle: The Norman Gateway and the Round Tower, with Part of the Queen's Lodge
Clark Art Institute, Williamstown

The Interior of Tintern Abbey, Showing the Choir and North Transept
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A View in Windsor Great Park with Deer
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An Ancient House, Possibly in Sussex
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The Interior of Tintern Abbey, Looking towards the West Window from the Choir
Norwich Castle Museum and Art Gallery

The Ruins of Newark Priory Church
Tate, London

Lancaster Castle and Priory Church, Seen with the Old Bridge over the River Lune
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Tate, London

The Refectory of Walsingham Priory
British Museum, London

The Ruined East End of Walsingham Priory Church
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The West Tower of Rumburgh Priory Church
Tate, London

Dumbarton Rock, from the North
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Part of the Ruins of Middleham Castle
Tate, London

Kidwelly Church, with the Castle Beyond
Tate, London

Kelso Abbey, from the North West
Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford

The Keep, Portchester Castle, from the North East
Tate, London

The Keep of Rochester Castle, from the South East
Tate, London

Part of the Ruins of Middleham Castle
Tate, London

Margam Abbey Church, from the North West
Tate, London

The Ruined East End of Walsingham Priory Church
Tate, London

The Ruins of the Holy Ghost Chapel, Basingstoke
Tate, London

The Medieval Kitchen, Stanton Harcourt
Tate, London

Part of the Ruins of Lewes Castle, from the West
Tate, London

Glasgow High Street, Looking towards the Cathedral
Tate, London

The Keep of Hedingham Castle, from the East
Tate, London

The South Transept, Much Wenlock Priory Church
Tate, London

Newport Castle, Monmouthshire
Private Collection

Portchester Castle, from the Outer Bailey
Tate, London

The Refectory of Walsingham Priory
Tate, London

An Unidentified Church close to a Road
British Museum, London

The Keep of Hedingham Castle, from the South West
Tate, London

Kirkstall Abbey, from the North West
Tate, London

Kirkstall Abbey, from the North West
Tate, London

The Ruined Gateway of Mettingham Castle
Tate, London

The Keep of Rochester Castle, Seen from outside the Walls
Tate, London

Tintern Abbey, from the River Wye
Private Collection

Tintern Abbey: The View from the Nave
Private Collection

The Market at Aberystwyth
Victoria and Albert Museum, London

Lancaster Castle, from the River Lune
Tate, London

Lancaster Castle, from the River Lune
Tate, London

Lancaster Priory Church, Seen with the Old Bridge over the River Lune
Tate, London

Buttermere Bridge, from the Fish Inn
Tate, London

The Medieval Kitchen, Stanton Harcourt
Private Collection, Norfolk

Rochester Cathedral, from the North East, with the Castle Beyond
Tate, London

Glasgow High Street: Looking towards the Cathedral
Tate, London

A Distant View of Corfe Castle
Tate, London

Chichester Cathedral, from the South West
Tate, London

The Gatehouse of Amberley Castle
Tate, London

A Lake and Mountains, Possibly in the Lake District
Tate, London

A Lake and Mountains, Possibly in the Lake District
Tate, London

An Unidentified View across a Lake, or along a Coast
Tate, London

A Road by a Pond, with a Church in the Distance
Tate, London

A Road by a Pond, with a Church in the Distance
British Museum, London

A Church Tower amongst Trees, with a Cart in the Foreground
British Museum, London

An Unidentified Landscape, with a Church amongst Trees
Tate, London

Trees near a Lake or River, at Twilight
Tate, London

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An Upland Landscape, Possibly in Northumberland
Private Collection

A Bridge in the Lake District, Possibly Grange Bridge, Borrowdale
Private Collection

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The Huntington Library, Art Museum and Botanical Gardens, San Marino

Knaresborough, from the River Nidd
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About this Work
This informal sketch-like view of the ruins of Corfe Castle in Dorset is based on one of the forty or so outline drawings by Girtin that came from the collection of Dr Thomas Monro (1759–1833) and that now form part of the Turner Bequest at Tate Britain (another being TG0365). The precise source of Girtin’s drawing has not been identified, but it is clear that the artist had not visited Corfe by the probable date of its production, and the image must therefore have been taken from the work of another artist, probably his earliest patron, James Moore (1762–99). The watercolours, all painted on paper measuring roughly 3 × 4 ¾ in (7.6 × 12.1 cm), were produced for Monro around 1795–96. Many of these were acquired by Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775–1851) after the patron’s death and are now part of the Turner Bequest at Tate Britain, but this work was separated from the rest of the group and only reappeared on the art market in 2019, along with another comparable view of Kelso Abbey (TG0270a). The two works were once framed with a third small watercolour, of Loch Lomond (TG0873), and all appear to have been made for Monro. Any doubts about the attribution of the watercolours on the grounds of quality are allayed by the fact that the views of both Kelso and Corfe are based on pencil drawings that are clearly by Girtin himself (TG0270 and TG0365).
It has been suggested that Monro may have had a publication in mind when he commissioned Girtin to produce watercolours such as this (Wilton, 1984a, p.12). But, though its small-scale certainly suits the watercolour to reproduction as a book illustration, its rapid execution and sketch-like appearance, suggesting that the work was made on the spot, indicate that it was produced as a different kind of commodity. The subjects chosen for this informal sketch-like treatment certainly do not follow any obvious pattern, other than being generally amongst the lesser known of the nation’s medieval monuments. Indeed, Monro was unsystematic in his commissions, and it may be that there was nothing that united the group other than the fact that Girtin’s outlines provided a ready resource from which sketch-like watercolours might be rapidly produced.
1794 - 1795
A Distant View of Corfe Castle
TG0365
1795 - 1796
Kelso Abbey, from the North West
TG0270a
1795 - 1796
Loch Lomond
TG0873
(?) 1795
Kelso Abbey, from the North West
TG0270
1794 - 1795
A Distant View of Corfe Castle
TG0365