- Description
-
- Creator(s)
- Thomas Girtin (1775-1802)
- Title
-
- An Unidentified Landscape with Distant Buildings
- Date
- (?) 1794
- Medium and Support
- Watercolour on laid paper
- Dimensions
- 8.9 × 17.8 cm, 3 ½ × 7 in
- Part of
-
- 1794 Sketchbook
- Object Type
- Colour Sketch: Studio Work
- Subject Terms
- An Imaginary Scene; Unidentified Landscape
-
- Collection
- Catalogue Number
- TG0189
- Description Source(s)
- Witt Library Photograph
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About this Work
This unidentified landscape, which is known only from a black and white photograph, appears to be related to a group of monochrome sketches that were sold together at auction in 1936 (Exhibitions: Christie’s, 27 March 1936, lot 1). Two of the drawings that have been identified as part of the group are dated 1794 – A Cloud Study (TG0186) and Jedburgh Abbey, from the Riverbank (TG0188) – and given that all of them appear to be on the same laid paper on which this landscape is painted, and with the same lateral dimensions, it is possible that they came from a sketchbook that was subsequently split up.
The material from the sketchbook is of a disparate kind. Two of the sketches, showing carefully observed clouds, were apparently sketched on the spot (TG0186 and TG0199), whilst the view of the ruined abbey church at Jedburgh, in the Scottish Borders, anticipates by two years Girtin’s visit to the site and must therefore have been copied from the work of another artist. This sketch, in contrast, closely resembles in terms of subject and handling two unidentified landscapes (TG1376 and TG1377) that appear to be imaginary scenes. Neither of the works is dated, but their striking similarity to A Cloud Study suggests that they too were produced around 1794, as the young artist sought to establish a clientele for his sketches.
1794
A Cloud Study
TG0186
1794
Jedburgh Abbey, from the Riverbank
TG0188
1794
A Cloud Study
TG0186
(?) 1794
A Sky Study
TG0199
(?) 1794
An Unidentified Landscape (A Moorland View)
TG1376
(?) 1794
An Unidentified Landscape, Known as ‘The Pool’
TG1377