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Works Thomas Girtin

A Gravel Pit at Bromley

1798 - 1799

 

Description
Creator(s)
Thomas Girtin (1775-1802)
Title
  • A Gravel Pit at Bromley
Date
1798 - 1799
Medium and Support
Watercolour on paper
Dimensions
26.7 × 40.6 cm, 10 ½ × 16 in
Inscription

‘Girtin’

Object Type
Studio Watercolour
Subject Terms
Dover and Kent; Trees and Woods

Collection
Catalogue Number
TG1424
Girtin & Loshak Number
274 as '1798'
Description Source(s)
Girtin and Loshak, 1954

Provenance

Thomas Calvert Girtin (1801–74); then by descent to George Wyndham Hog Girtin (1835–1911) (lent to London, 1875); by a settlement to his sister, Ida Johanna Hog Rogge, née Girtin (1834–1925), January 1880 as 'Sandpit at Bromley Kent'; sold by her to J. Palser & Sons, 1901; George Richards Burnett (1858–1929); his sale, Christie's, 23 March 1908, lot 209; bought by 'Osmaston', £22 10s; J. B. Morrell, York (Girtin and Loshak, 1954)

Exhibition History

London, 1875, no.85 as ’Gravel Pit, Bromley, Kent’

About this Work

This watercolour was included by Thomas Girtin (1874–1960) and David Loshak in their catalogue of the artist’s works, where they noted that it shows a ‘cart-track running down between straggling trees into the sandy foreground’ (Girtin and Loshak, 1954, p.171). The work does not appear to have been photographed, and, given that it has not been seen in public since a sale in 1908, it is not possible to comment on either the attribution to Girtin or the date of 1798 suggested by the earlier cataloguers. It is clear, however, that the drawing is related to a group of views made in the area of Bromley and Widmore, which includes other gravel pits and sandpits (TG1421 and TG1422), though the precise details of the relationships amongst this mix of on-the-spot studies and studio watercolours cannot be determined. Girtin and Loshak give a family provenance for the work, listing the artist’s son, Thomas Calvert Girtin (1801–74), as its first owner. This does not mean that the work necessarily came directly from the artist, however, as Thomas Calvert bought many of his works on the art market. It may be that he acquired this watercolour from, or following, the posthumous sale of the collection of William Wells (1768–1847) of Redleaf in Kent, which included ‘A gravel pit, near Bromley, in Kent’ (Exhibitions: Christie’s, 22 January 1857, lot 313).

1798 - 1799

A Sandpit, near Logs Hill, Widmore

TG1421

1798 - 1799

A Sandpit, near Logs Hill, Widmore

TG1422

by Greg Smith

Place depicted

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