- Description
-
- Creator(s)
- (?) James Moore (1762-1799) and (?) Thomas Girtin (1775-1802)
- Title
-
- An Ancient House, Possibly in Sussex
- Date
- 1793 - 1794
- Medium and Support
- Graphite and watercolour on wove paper
- Dimensions
- 13.8 × 21.5 cm, 5 ⅜ × 8 ½ in
- Object Type
- Work after an Amateur Artist
- Subject Terms
- Picturesque Vernacular; Sussex View
-
- Collection
-
- Newport Museum and Art Gallery
- (2003.201)
- Catalogue Number
- TG0080
- Description Source(s)
- Viewed in 2016
Provenance
Presented by Mrs E. W. T. L. I. Brewer-Williams, 2003
Other entries in First Steps as a Professional Artist:
James Moore and British Antiquities
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Dumbarton Rock and the Castle, from the North West
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Interior of the Albion Mills, Southwark, after the Fire
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Duff House, from the South
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An Unidentified Round Tower
The Huntington Library, Art Museum and Botanical Gardens, San Marino
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Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
Part of the Ruins of Alton Castle
Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
The West Front of Valle Crucis Abbey Church
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The Ruins of the East End of St Andrews Cathedral
Birmingham Museums & Art Gallery
Warkworth Castle, from the River Coquet
Touchstones Rochdale
Colchester Castle
Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
The Great Keep, Kenilworth Castle
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
The Castle Rock, Edinburgh
Fitzwilliam Museum, University of Cambridge
London: The Demolition of the Old Porch of the Guildhall
London Metropolitan Archives
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Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
Kirkstall Abbey, from the South East
Private Collection
Buildwas Abbey
Rhode Island School of Design Museum, Providence
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Private Collection
The Great Gate, St Augustine’s Abbey, Canterbury
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Conwy Castle: The Bakehouse Tower
Private Collection
Lindisfarne Priory Church, Looking West from the Choir
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Kirkstall Abbey, from the North West
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
The Tithe Barn at Abbotsbury, with St Catherine's Chapel on the Hill
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
Kirkstall Abbey, from the South East
Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
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Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
Spynie Palace, near Elgin
Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
Dunnottar Castle in a Thunderstorm
Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
Part of the Ruins of Croxden Abbey, from the East
Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
The Great Keep, Kenilworth Castle, with Leicester's Gatehouse in the Distance
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Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
The East End of Valle Crucis Abbey Church
Indianapolis Museum of Art at Newfields
The Gatehouse, Denbigh Castle
Private Collection
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Private Collection
Ewell Church, with a Funeral Procession Approaching
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Rustic Figures in a Landscape, with Pigs
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St Peter's Church, Bexhill, from the East
Private Collection
Warkworth Castle, from the River Coquet
Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
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Private Collection
Duff House, from the River
Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
A Landscape with a Shepherd and Flock
The Huntington Library, Art Museum and Botanical Gardens, San Marino
Melrose Abbey, from the South West
Private Collection
A Cottage, Said to Be near Battle in Sussex
Private Collection
Ely Cathedral, from the South East
Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
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Private Collection
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Private Collection
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Pevensey Castle: The North Tower with the Gatehouse in the Distance
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
The Spire of Salisbury Cathedral, from Chorister's Green
Private Collection
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The Landgate, Rye
Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
The Gatehouse, Saltwood Castle
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
The Gatehouse, Saltwood Castle
Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
The Strand Gate, Winchelsea
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
The West Tower, All Saints' Church, Hastings
Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
Rochester Castle, from the South
Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
The West Front of Byland Abbey
Birmingham Museums & Art Gallery
All Saints' Church, Hastings, from the North East
Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
An Ancient House, Possibly in Sussex
Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
Kenilworth Castle: The View from the South
Private Collection
Kenilworth Castle: Seen from the South East
Private Collection
Tolleshunt D’Arcy Church
Private Collection
St Peter's Church, Bexhill, from the South East
Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
The Ruined Gatehouse, Saltwood Castle, Seen from the North
Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
Saltwood Castle: The Gatehouse
Private Collection
The Ruined Gatehouse, Pevensey Castle, from the East
Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
The Ruined Gatehouse, Pevensey Castle
Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
The Gatehouse, Battle Abbey
Clark Art Institute, Williamstown
Carlisle Cathedral, from the South West
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
The Gatehouse, Battle Abbey
Private Collection
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Private Collection
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Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
The West Front of Crowland Abbey
Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
Pevensey Castle: View of the North and East Towers
Private Collection
The Ruins of the Great Hall, Kenilworth Castle
Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
All Saints' Church, Hastings, from the North West
Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
The Refectory, St Martin’s Priory, Dover
Philadelphia Museum of Art
Saltwood Castle: The Gatehouse from a Farmyard
Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
Spynie Palace: A Coastal View
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
St Clement's Church, with Hastings in the Distance
Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
The East End of the Church of St Thomas, Winchelsea
Private Collection
The East End of the Church of St Thomas, Winchelsea
Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
The West Tower, St Clement's Church, Hastings; Studies of a Horse in Harness and Numerous Architectural Details
Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
Undercliff, near Hastings
Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
The Ypres Tower, Rye
Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
An Unidentified Village with a Half-Timbered House
Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
Hastings: The View across the Beach to Castle Hill
Hastings Museum and Art Gallery
Hastings Castle and Priory Bridge
Hastings Museum and Art Gallery
Tolleshunt D’Arcy Church
National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh
Battle Abbey Gatehouse, from the South West
Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
St Clement’s Church, Sandwich, from the North
Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
St Peter's Church, Bexhill: The West Tower
Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
Glasgow Cathedral, from the South West
Bolton Museum and Art Gallery
The East End of Icklesham Church
Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
The Refectory, St Martin’s Priory, Dover
The Huntington Library, Art Museum and Botanical Gardens, San Marino
The Gatehouse of Beckingham Hall, Tolleshunt Major
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
Glamis Castle (Macbeth's Castle)
Private Collection, Norfolk
One of the Alard Monuments in the Church of St Thomas, Winchelsea
Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
One of the Alard Monuments in the Church of St Thomas, Winchelsea
Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
Pegwell Bay, near Ramsgate
Harvard Art Museums / Fogg Museum, Loan from George and Patti White
A Thatched Barn with Farm Animals
Private Collection
A Timber-Frame House with a Hill Beyond
Tate, London
A Farmyard with Pigs Drinking at a Pond
The Huntington Library, Art Museum and Botanical Gardens, San Marino
A Barn with a Figure, Cattle and Poultry
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About this Work
This view of a picturesque half-timbered structure has hitherto been attributed to Edward Dayes (1763–1804) and, like the other two versions of the composition by Girtin himself (TG0248 and TG0294), it is based on an untraced sketch by the artist’s first patron, the amateur artist and antiquarian James Moore (1762–99). The attribution to Dayes is highly suspect, however, as in contrast to the fine pencil work displayed here, the watercolour washes are applied in a very loose, even slapdash manner. Additionally, although Dayes was quite capable of turning in substandard works for the lower end of the market, the colouring is too feeble to be attached to his name. What can be seen of the pencil work, however, is bold, inventive and entirely characteristic of the young Girtin at his best. Could it be that in just this one instance Moore himself coloured up one of the sketches that Girtin made for his patron? One other option is worth considering, however. It is possible that the sketch that Moore made of the vernacular building is not lost or untraced, just hidden. There are twenty or so examples in an album in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, where Girtin has corrected and enhanced Moore’s on-the-spot sketches, as with St Mary the Virgin, Eastbourne (TG0282). One explanation for why Moore’s sketch for this composition has not survived may be that underneath the washes of colour is actually one of Girtin elaborations of a Moore drawing.
Another sketch by Moore shows the same vernacular building (TG0190a), but unfortunately it too is not inscribed with the location and consequently it has not been possible to establish its identity. Thomas Girtin (1874–1960) and David Loshak suggested that the building was ‘perhaps in Shropshire’, but it is possible that Moore came across it during one of his trips to Sussex, as that was where he made the majority of the other sketches contained in the album of drawings from which this image comes (Girtin and Loshak, 1954, p.143). The building indeed shares some of the features of Wealden hall houses, though no precise model has been found.
An additional complicating factor has emerged in the form of yet another version of the composition (see figure 1) offered for sale in 2023 (Bishop & Miller, 30 March 2023, lot 306). The work was ‘Attributed to Thomas Girtin’, but working from an admittedly poor-quality image I think an attribution to Edward Dayes might be more appropriate, not least as Girtin’s master generally had access to Moore’s sketches and there are numerous cases of both artists producing versions of the amateur’s pencil drawings (see, for example, TG0092, TG0098 and TG0107).
1793 - 1794
An Ancient House, Possibly in Sussex
TG0248
1795 - 1796
An Ancient House
TG0294
(?) 1795
St Mary the Virgin, Eastbourne
TG0282
(?) 1795
A Tudor House
TG0190a
1792 - 1793
The West Front of Exeter Cathedral, and St Mary Major
TG0092
1792 - 1793
Ludlow Castle: The Gatehouse
TG0098
1792 - 1793
Conwy Castle, Looking West
TG0107