For full functionality of this site it is necessary to enable JavaScript. Here are the instructions how to enable JavaScript in your web browser.
Works Thomas Girtin after (?) James Moore

Battle Church

(?) 1795

 

Description
Creator(s)
Thomas Girtin (1775-1802) after (?) James Moore (1762-1799)
Title
  • Battle Church
Date
(?) 1795
Medium and Support
Graphite and watercolour on paper
Object Type
Studio Watercolour; Work after an Amateur Artist
Subject Terms
Gothic Architecture: Parish Church; Sussex View

Collection
Catalogue Number
TG0154a
Description Source(s)
Sale Catalogue

Provenance

James Moore (1762–99); his widow, Mary Moore (née Howett) (d.1835); bequeathed to Anne Miller (1802–90); bequeathed to Edward Mansel Miller (1829–1912); bequeathed to Helen Louisa Miller (1842–1915); bought by Thomas Girtin (1874–1960), 1912, £12; sold through the Leicester Galleries, London, August 1912, £18 18s

Exhibition History

London, 1912, no.51

About this Work

This watercolour, which was last recorded as being sold in 1912 from the collection of the descendants of James Moore (1762–99), Girtin’s first significant patron, has not been traced (Exhibitions: London, 1912, no.51). No photograph of the work is known to exist and it is impossible to know, therefore, whether it was made after a drawing of the church by Moore that he made on his tour of Sussex in the summer of 1795 (TG0154). The drawing, with improvements probably added by Girtin himself, is the only view of the church by Moore to have survived, and it is likely that the professional artist made the changes in preparation for executing his own watercolour. Moore, a keen antiquarian and amateur artist, also provided Girtin with the models for a number of views of Battle Abbey (such as TG0268), and the watercolourist almost certainly did not visit the famous site of the battle himself. Thus, although Thomas Girtin (1874–1960) and David Loshak argued that Girtin accompanied Moore on his 1795 trip to Sussex and the ‘Cinque Ports region’ (Girtin and Loshak, 1954, p.28), that now seems very unlikely, and all of his views of the county were presumably made after his patron’s sketches, many of which, as here, the artist worked over on the amateur’s return to London.

(?) 1795

Battle Church, from the South East

TG0154

(?) 1795

The Gatehouse, Battle Abbey

TG0268

by Greg Smith

Place depicted

Revisions & Feedback

The website will be updated from time to time and, when changes are made, a PDF of the previous version of each page will be archived here for consultation and citation.

Please help us to improve this catalogue


If you have information, a correction or any other suggestions to improve this catalogue, please contact us.