- Description
-
- Creator(s)
- Thomas Girtin (1775-1802)
- Title
-
- A View in Windsor Great Park with Deer
- Date
- 1794 - 1795
- Medium and Support
- Graphite and watercolour on wove paper
- Dimensions
- 19 × 16 cm, 7 ½ × 6 ⅜ in
- Inscription
'Windor forest Girtin' on a paper used to mount the drawing, by Thomas Girtin
- Object Type
- Studio Watercolour
- Subject Terms
- Trees and Woods; Windsor and Environs
-
- Collection
- Catalogue Number
- TG0174
- Description Source(s)
- Viewed in April 2018
Provenance
Possibly Foster’s, 11 December 1912, lot 50; ... Arthur K. Hay; then by descent to Joseph B. Hay; his estate sale, Bateman’s, Stamford, 7 October 2017, lot 614; bought by Andrew Clayton-Payne; bought by the museum, 2018
Exhibition History
New York, 2023, online catalogue
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
Blackburn Museum and Art Gallery

A View in Windsor Great Park with Deer
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

An Ancient House, Possibly in Sussex
Private Collection

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
Private Collection

Barnard Castle and Bridge, from the River Tees
Tate, London

The Ruined West Front of Dunbrody Abbey Church, County Wexford, Ireland
Tate, London

The Refectory of Walsingham Priory
British Museum, London

The Ruined East End of Walsingham Priory Church
Tate, London

The West Tower of Rumburgh Priory Church
Tate, London

Dumbarton Rock, from the North
Tate, London

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

A Hilly Landscape, with a Two-Arched Bridge
Private Collection

A Distant View of Tynemouth Priory, from the Sea
Tate, London

An Upland Landscape, Possibly in Northumberland
Private Collection

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

Bridgnorth, on the River Severn
The Huntington Library, Art Museum and Botanical Gardens, San Marino

Knaresborough, from the River Nidd
Private Collection
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About this Work
This recently discovered watercolour is in almost perfect condition and provides a good indication of the quality of Girtin’s work around 1794 and of the way in which it was presented by the artist. The drawing was originally backed onto a mount made from three sheets of paper, the largest of which formed the support of part of an earlier unfinished composition by Girtin showing a farmyard scene with figures and animals (TG0174a). The simple washline mount was inscribed at the bottom ‘Windsor forest Girtin’ (see figure 1), presumably by the artist himself, and these lines would have originally framed the drawing. Rather than showing ‘Windsor forest’, however, the watercolour appears to depict a scene in Windsor Great Park, with two deer in the foreground and more in the distance across an area of water. Girtin went on to collaborate with the specialist animal painter Samuel Howitt (1757–1823) to create another scene of deer in the park at Windsor (TG1373); however, whilst the location is established in that work by a view of the castle in the distance, here there is nothing to indicate that this is the royal park other than the title. The point is significant because it is unlikely that Girtin had visited Windsor himself by the probable date of this drawing’s production, and, as with other early views of the castle (TG0157 and TG0065), he may have copied his composition from another artist, as was so often the case with his topographical views of out-of-London subjects. On the other hand, the fact that there is no specific topographical reference to Windsor could equally mean that the artist believed that the combination of parkland scenery featuring ancient oaks and grazing deer was enough, with the addition of a title, to signify that the scene was the royal park. Thus, despite the title, I suspect that the scene is essentially imaginary and that the trees with their frankly fantastical forms were not studied from life in the Berkshire countryside. Indeed, the very qualities that make this work so attractive – its decorative richness and subtle array of patterns – point to something quite different from a topographical view either studied at first hand or copied from another artist.
One of the difficulties in cataloguing this work is the lack of comparative material from this date. Girtin’s views of Windsor Great Park are later, and, though he made a number of pencil drawings of pure landscapes, none of his watercolours prior to the late 1790s feature either a significant architectural motif or a prominent figure. The closest stylistic links are therefore with architectural subjects such as Caesar’s Tower, Warwick Castle (TG0239) and One of the Alard Monuments in the Church of St Thomas, Winchelsea (TG0352), produced for Girtin’s earliest patron, James Moore (1762–99). The former was copied after a watercolour by Michael Rooker (1746–1801) around 1794–95, and it is Girtin’s adoption at this date of that artist’s characteristic feature of working in blocks of colour over a lighter ground to create decorative patterns that helps most with the dating of A View in Windsor Great Park with Deer. Moreover, given that the Winchelsea view is actually dated 1796, it may be that my initial estimate of 1794 for this watercolour needs to be revised forward a little.
1793 - 1794
Rustic Figures in a Landscape, with Pigs
TG0174a
1795 - 1796
Stags Fighting amongst a Herd of Deer in Windsor Great Park, with the Castle in the Distance
TG1373
1792 - 1793
Windsor Castle: The Norman Gateway and the Round Tower, with Part of the Queen’s Lodge
TG0157
(?) 1792
Windsor Castle, from the River Thames
TG0065
1794 - 1795
Caesar’s Tower, Warwick Castle
TG0239
(?) 1796
One of the Alard Monuments in the Church of St Thomas, Winchelsea
TG0352