- Description
-
- Creator(s)
- Thomas Girtin (1775-1802)
- Title
-
- A River Valley and a Distant Hill Seen through Trees
- Date
- 1800 - 1801
- Medium and Support
- Graphite, watercolour and pen and ink on laid paper
- Dimensions
- 22.5 × 16.8 cm, 8 ⅞ × 6 ⅝ in
- Inscription
‘T. Girtin’ on the back, not in Thomas Girtin’s hand
- Object Type
- Colour Sketch: Studio Work
- Subject Terms
- Trees and Woods; Unidentified Landscape
-
- Collection
- Versions
-
Trees in a Glade Overlooking a Lake
(TG1404)
- Catalogue Number
- TG1772
- Description Source(s)
- Collection Catalogue; Gallery Website
Provenance
Cecil Eldred Hughes (1875–1941); then by descent; bought by Deborah Gage Ltd, 1998; bought by Sir Edwin Alfred Grenville Manton (1909–2005), 1998; Manton Family Art Foundation, 2005–07; presented to the Institute, 2007
Bibliography
Wilton, 2001, pp.93–94; Clarke, 2012, no.144, p.266
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
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About this Work
This rapidly worked study showing the fall of light through a clump of trees has not been identified, and a suggestion that it depicts a scene in Harewood Park in Yorkshire is not convincing (Wilton, 2001, pp.93–94). The topography shown is surely not distinctive enough to support any specific location and, indeed, the discovery during the course of the preparation of this online catalogue that the drawing essentially replicates a composition seen in a larger monochrome study (TG1404) suggests an alternative: namely, that the work is actually an imaginary view based on a composition by John Robert Cozens (1752–97) (see TG1404 figure 1). The monochrome work follows Cozens’ low tones, and in addition the form of the trees and the sense of the confused mass of vegetation giving onto an open landscape charged with brilliant shafts of light reappears in this work, which also purports to be a sketch made on the spot. It is not possible for both works to have been coloured from life, and the significance of the Cozens source is that it actually undermines the imperative to identify the original or primary version, for I suspect that in both cases we are looking at an imaginary scene produced in the studio. The limited palette in A River Valley, and the way that the very liquid washes have blotted or lost their definition, may indeed suggest a work coloured on the spot, but signs that a drawing was created in haste can just as easily be incorporated into a studio work aimed at the market for Girtin’s sketches. Some artists conveniently identify a work coloured or sketched on the spot, but this was never the case with Girtin, so it is sometimes necessary to admit that it is simply not possible to be sure about the status of a work. But in this case, the existence of two versions of the same ‘sketch’ points to the conclusion that neither were made from nature and that, perhaps uniquely for the artist, he employed alternative conventions to the same end: the production of a sketch-like commodity for sale.
1799 - 1800
Trees in a Glade Overlooking a Lake
TG1404