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Works Thomas Girtin after (?) John Robert Cozens

An Unidentified Mausoleum, Probably near Rome

1794 - 1797

Primary Image: TG0543: Thomas Girtin (1775-1802), after (?) John Robert Cozens (1752-1797), An Unidentified Mausoleum, Probably near Rome, 1794–97, graphite and watercolour on laid paper, 12.7 × 17.8 cm, 5 × 7 in. Private Collection.

Photo courtesy of The Trustees of the British Museum

Description
Creator(s)
Thomas Girtin (1775-1802) after (?) John Robert Cozens (1752-1797)
Title
  • An Unidentified Mausoleum, Probably near Rome
Date
1794 - 1797
Medium and Support
Graphite and watercolour on laid paper
Dimensions
12.7 × 17.8 cm, 5 × 7 in
Object Type
Monro School Copy
Subject Terms
Italian View: Ancient Ruins

Collection
Catalogue Number
TG0543
Description Source(s)
Girtin Archive Photograph; Auction Catalogue

Provenance

Squire Gallery, London, 1954; ... Christie’s, 20 November 1984, lot 18, unsold

About this Work

This simple pencil drawing with a monochrome wash is known mainly from a photograph in the Girtin Archive, where it is titled ‘A Roman Tomb, by and Adjacent to Modern Buildings’ and attributed, ‘quite certainly’, to Girtin alone (Girtin Archive, 12). The round ruin does indeed resemble the mausolea that John Robert Cozens (1752–97) sketched along the Via Appia (leading out of Rome), which probably provided the sources for a number of copies that Girtin and Turner produced for Dr Thomas Monro (1759–1833) in the years between 1794 and 1797, including The Mausoleum of Caecilia Metella (TG0542) and The Ruins of the Mausoleum of the Emperor Gallienus (TG0607). Though no Cozens drawing for this subject has been traced, it is likely that the work was copied from one of the numerous ‘outlines or unfinished drawings’ that he made during his stay in Italy from November 1776 through to March 1779. It has not been possible to identify the building, though.

The drawing was sold by the Squire Gallery, London, in 1955 with another Monro School work that also appears to have been executed solely by Girtin, Part of Padua, Seen from the Walls (TG0705), which was certainly copied from a sketch by Cozens. Girtin made several hundred pencil copies at Monro’s home from myriad sources, and, although ‘Turner washed in the effects’ in the majority of cases to create the distinctive Monro School drawings, there are inevitably a number of examples where the outlines were not touched on or just lightly washed by Girtin himself (Farington, Diary, 12 November 1798). Works such as this were presumably amongst the items sold under Girtin’s name at Monro’s posthumous sale in 1833 as ‘Unfinished sketches’ or ‘Foreign views’ (Exhibitions: Christie’s, 1 July 1833, lots 101 and 103).

1794 - 1797

The Mausoleum of Caecilia Metella, Rome

TG0542

1794 - 1797

The Ruins of the Mausoleum of the Emperor Gallienus on the Appian Way

TG0607

1794 - 1797

Part of Padua, Seen from the Walls

TG0705

by Greg Smith

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