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Works Thomas Girtin

An Upland Landscape, Possibly in Northumberland

1796 - 1797

Primary Image: TG0851: Thomas Girtin (1775–1802), An Upland Landscape, Possibly in Northumberland, 1796–97, graphite and watercolour on laid paper, 7 × 11 cm, 2 ¾ × 4 ¼ in. Private Collection.

Photo courtesy of Sotheby's (All Rights Reserved)

Description
Creator(s)
Thomas Girtin (1775-1802)
Title
  • An Upland Landscape, Possibly in Northumberland
Date
1796 - 1797
Medium and Support
Graphite and watercolour on laid paper
Dimensions
7 × 11 cm, 2 ¾ × 4 ¼ in
Object Type
Colour Sketch: Studio Work
Subject Terms
Durham and Northumberland; Unidentified Landscape

Collection
Catalogue Number
TG0851
Description Source(s)
Viewed in 2004

Provenance

Sotheby’s, 27 November 2003, lot 241 as 'A View in Northumberland', unsold; Sotheby's, Olympia, 26 May 2004, lot 41, £1,440

About this Work

This simple landscape sketch, which is said to show a scene in Northumberland, is likely to have been amongst the sixty ‘Coloured Drawings on Cards’ sold from the collection of Dr Thomas Monro (1759–1833) (Exhibitions: Christie’s, 7 May 1808, lots 60 and 61; Christie’s, 26 June 1833, lots 80–83). A group of the cards was bought by Girtin’s collaborator at Monro’s home, Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775–1851), and they now form part of the Turner Bequest at Tate Britain, where the majority of them are attributed to Girtin. The watercolours, all painted on card measuring roughly 3 × 4 ¾ in (7.6 × 12.1 cm), were mainly executed around 1795–96 after a set of Girtin’s outline drawings that are now also in the Turner Bequest. This example, however, is one of only a handful that seem to have been painted a little later (Wilton, 1984a, p.12), and from sketches that Girtin himself made on the spot (two others being TG0850 and TG0855). Rather than being copied from the drawings of his first significant patron, the amateur artist and antiquarian James Moore (1762–99), or his master, Edward Dayes (1763–1804), the subject would have been studied at first hand during Girtin’s trip to the north east and the Scottish Borders in 1796. A word of caution, though. The view is certainly comparable to the card depicting Flodden Field (TG0855), but what is the evidence that this watercolour actually shows a view in Northumberland? An earlier inscription may have recorded the title, but the watercolour itself does not contain enough specific topographical detail to determine the identity of the location shown. The watercolour is also a little smaller than the standard size of the Monro cards. However, as with the doubt about the traditional title of the view, this in itself does not preclude the possibility that the work was based on a drawing that Girtin made and that it consequently dates from later than the bulk of the commission.

1796 - 1797

A Distant View of Tynemouth Priory, from the Sea

TG0850

1796 - 1797

Flodden Field

TG0855

1796 - 1797

Flodden Field

TG0855

by Greg Smith

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