- Description
-
- Creator(s)
- (?) Thomas Girtin (1775-1802)
- Title
-
- Caernarfon Castle, from the River Seiont
- Date
- 1798 - 1799
- Medium and Support
- Watercolour on laid paper
- Dimensions
- 21.3 × 30.5 cm, 8 ⅜ × 12 in
- Object Type
- Studio Watercolour
- Subject Terms
- Castle Ruins; North Wales; River Scenery
-
- Collection
-
- Williamson Art Gallery & Museum, Birkenhead
- (BIKGM1975)
- Versions
-
Caernarfon Castle, from the River Seiont
(TG1315)
- Catalogue Number
- TG1316
- Girtin & Loshak Number
- 290ii as 'Caernarvon Castle'
- Description Source(s)
- Viewed in 2001
Provenance
J. Palser & Sons, c.1900; ... Christie's, 15 April 1932, lot 121; bought by 'Squire', £13 13s; Squire Gallery, London; bought from them by the Gallery, 1932, £29 18s
Place depicted
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About this Work
This small studio watercolour is one of two versions of a composition that Girtin presumably sketched on his tour of North Wales in the summer of 1798 (the other being TG1315). The view from the river Seiont shows the south flank of Caernarfon Castle with the Queen’s Tower to the right, and it therefore covers much the same extent of the building that is seen in a pencil drawing made at the same time (TG1308), though more of the estuary is visible as the view is taken from further away. The faded condition of the work perhaps confuses the issue somewhat, but, in comparison with the other version of the composition, which in itself is not one of the artist’s strongest efforts, the execution is so poor as to open up the question of its attribution. The depiction of the water is no more than satisfactory, whilst the handling of the architecture, in particular, is very weak, and there is no sense of a credible structure to the building. Moreover, the application of the washes throughout the drawing is very mechanical, and my first instinct was to suggest that it is a copy of the aquatint (see print after TG1315), presumably by an amateur artist. The fact that the first version of the composition must have been in the possession of the engraver Samuel William Reynolds (1773–1835) suggests another idea, however. Reynolds is the suspected author of a string of more or less convincing copies of works by Girtin that he had in his possession, either in his role as a dealer or in his capacity as an engraver, including the second version of Chelsea Reach, Looking towards Battersea (TG1741). There is of course no way of knowing precisely, but Reynolds seems to have had the means to make a copy of the watercolour now in the collection of the British Museum (TG1315), and, if he found a buyer for the original, it may even be that it was made to facilitate the production of the aquatint rather than to contribute a fraudulent imposture to the market.
1798 - 1799
Caernarfon Castle, from the River Seiont
TG1315
(?) 1798
Caernarfon Castle, from the East
TG1308
1798 - 1799
Caernarfon Castle, from the River Seiont
TG1315
1800 - 1805
Chelsea Reach, Looking towards Battersea
TG1741
1798 - 1799
Caernarfon Castle, from the River Seiont
TG1315