- Description
-
- Creator(s)
- Thomas Girtin (1775-1802)
- Title
-
- Dunstanburgh Castle: The Lilburn Tower
- Date
- 1797 - 1798
- Medium and Support
- Graphite, watercolour and scratching out on laid paper
- Dimensions
- 37.9 × 51.1 cm, 14 ⅞ × 20 ⅛ in
- Object Type
- Studio Watercolour; Visible Fold in the Paper
- Subject Terms
- Castle Ruins; Coasts and Shipping; Durham and Northumberland
-
- Collection
- Catalogue Number
- TG1101
- Girtin & Loshak Number
- 183 as 'Dunstanborough Castle'; '1796–7'
- Description Source(s)
- Viewed in 2001 and 2002
Provenance
J. Palser & Sons (stock no.16097); bought by A. H. Wild, 17 November 1916, £42; his sale, Christie's, 16 June 1922, lot 70; bought by 'Palser', £20; J. Palser & Sons (stock no.18592); bought by Victor Rienaecker (1887–1972), 5 October 1922, £60 (Davies, 1924); Sir Michael Ernest Sadler (1861–1943); Walter C. Hetherington (d.1978); his posthumous sale, Christie’s, 14 February 1978, lot 53, £5,500; Phillips, 8 October 1984, lot 56 as 'Dunstanborough Castle: The Lilburn Tower'; bought by the Gallery, £19,000
Exhibition History
London, 2002, no.56
Bibliography
Davies, 1924, pl.25; Girtin and Loshak, 1954, p.63; Joll, 1988, p.3; Smith, 2002a, pp.218–19
Place depicted
Other entries in The 1796 Northern Tour to Yorkshire, the North East and the Scottish Borders:
Sketches and Subsequent Watercolours

Bamburgh Castle, from the South
Cragside House, Northumberland (National Trust)

Durham Cathedral, from the South West
British Museum, London

The Ouse Bridge, York, from the North Shore
British Museum, London

The Ouse Bridge, York, from Skeldergate Postern
York Art Gallery

York: The New Walk on the Banks of the Ouse
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven

York Minster, from the South West
Private Collection

York Minster, from the South West
Private Collection

York Minster, from the Ouse, with St Mary’s Abbey
Harewood House, Yorkshire

The South Side of York Minster, Showing the Transept and the Western Towers
Private Collection, Yorkshire

York Minster, from the South East, Layerthorpe Bridge and Postern to the Right
British Museum, London

Unidentified Gothic Ruins, Said to Be St Mary’s Abbey, York
Birmingham Museums & Art Gallery

A Distant View of Ripon Minster, from the River Skell
Private Collection

A Distant View of Ripon Minster, from the River Skell
Harewood House, Yorkshire

A Distant View of Rievaulx Abbey
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven

Easby Abbey, from the River Swale
Private Collection

Easby Abbey, from the River Swale
Manchester Art Gallery

Easby Abbey, from the River Swale
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

The Bridge at Warkworth, with the Church Beyond
Victoria and Albert Museum, London

Richmond, Yorkshire: The Seventeenth-Century House Known as St Nicholas
British Museum, London

Richmond Castle and Bridge, from the River Swale
The Huntington Library, Art Museum and Botanical Gardens, San Marino

Richmond Castle and Bridge, from the River Swale
Victoria Gallery and Museum, University of Liverpool

Richmond Castle and Town, from the South East
Private Collection

Barnard Castle, from the River Tees
British Museum, London

Egglestone Abbey, from the River Tees
Gallery Oldham

Egglestone Abbey, on the River Tees
British Museum, London

Durham Cathedral and Castle, from the River Wear
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

Durham Cathedral and Castle, from the River Wear
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester

Durham Cathedral and Castle, from the River Wear
J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles

Durham Castle and Cathedral, from below the Weir
Private Collection, Norfolk

Durham Castle and Cathedral, from below the Weir
Victoria and Albert Museum, London

Durham Castle and Cathedral, from below the Weir; Dryburgh Abbey with the Eildon Hills Beyond
Birmingham Museums & Art Gallery

Durham Cathedral, from the South West
Private Collection

St Nicholas’ Church, Newcastle-upon-Tyne
Private Collection

Tynemouth Priory, from the Coast
Cleveland Museum of Art

Bothal Castle, from the River Wansbeck
Private Collection

A River Scene with a Tower, Said to Be the Tyne near Hexham
Leeds Art Gallery

Warkworth Castle, from the River Coquet
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven

Warkworth Castle, from the River Coquet
Private Collection, Norfolk

The Bridge at Warkworth, with the Castle Beyond
Untraced Works

Dunstanburgh Castle, Viewed from a Distance
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven

Dunstanburgh Castle: The Lilburn Tower
Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle-upon-Tyne

Lindisfarne: An Interior View of the Ruins of the Priory Church
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester

Lindisfarne: An Interior View of the Ruins of the Priory Church
Fitzwilliam Museum, University of Cambridge

An Interior View of the Ruins of Lindisfarne Priory Church
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven

Lindisfarne: The Nave and Crossing of the Priory Church
British Museum, London

An Exterior View of the Ruins of Lindisfarne Priory Church
Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford

An Exterior View of the Ruins of Lindisfarne Priory Church
Private Collection

York Minster, from the South East, Layerthorpe Bridge and Postern to the Right
Victoria and Albert Museum, London

Dryburgh Abbey: The South Transept Looking North
Private Collection

Dryburgh Abbey: The South Transept from the Cloister
Private Collection

Melrose Abbey: The Ruined Presbytery and the East Window
Clark Art Institute, Williamstown

Melrose Abbey: The Ruined Presbytery and the East Window
Cooper Gallery, Barnsley

Melrose Abbey, from the North East
The Morgan Library & Museum, New York

Jedburgh Abbey, from the North East
Private Collection

Jedburgh Abbey, from Jed Water
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven

The Village of Jedburgh, with the Abbey Ruins
British Museum, London

The Village of Jedburgh, with the Abbey Ruins
Private Collection, Bedfordshire

The West Front of Jedburgh Abbey
British Museum, London

Jedburgh Abbey, from the South East
Blickling Hall, Norfolk (National Trust)

The Ruins of the Lady Chapel, near Bothal
Rhode Island School of Design Museum, Providence

Bamburgh Castle, from the Village
Guy Peppiatt Fine Art Ltd

St Nicholas’ Church, Newcastle-upon-Tyne
Victoria Gallery and Museum, University of Liverpool

Richmond, Yorkshire: The Seventeenth-Century House Known as St Nicholas
Private Collection

An Interior View of Fountains Abbey: The East Window from the Presbytery
Graves Gallery, Sheffield

St Mary’s, Old Malton, on the River Derwent
Untraced Works

York: Pavement, Looking towards All Saints
Private Collection
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About this Work
This view of the Lilburn Tower, part of the spectacularly located castle of Dunstanburgh, on the Northumberland coast, like the slightly later vertical version of the composition (TG1102), was presumably based on a drawing made on Girtin’s visit to the north east in 1796. Another on-the-spot sketch shows the castle from the same direction, the north, though from further away and with more of the coastal setting evident (TG1100). For his studio composition, the artist developed a less conventional composition that rejects the more obviously dramatic view of the ruined gatehouse shown by Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775–1851) in his contemporary watercolour (see figure 1). The key to realising the dramatic potential of the site lay in Girtin’s adoption of a boldly centralised composition, which was derived from his study of John Robert Cozens (1752–97). Having created versions of works such as An Unidentified Fort on a Cliff by the Sea (TG0662) for Dr Thomas Monro (1759–1833) in collaboration with Turner, Girtin was equipped to develop a dramatic composition that unites the fourteenth-century tower and the rocky outcrop into a monumental form of great power. Girtin employed a similar structure in a number of other north-eastern views, including Bamburgh Castle (TG1104) and the comparable Lindisfarne Castle (TG1113), the latter of which may even have been conceived as a pair with this work. As with the view of the castle at the nearby Lindisfarne, the prominence of the rock on which the structure stands is greatly exaggerated.
In contrast with those views, in this one the sea is no longer shown in a calm state, though it is clear that Girtin struggled to depict the more turbulent conditions with any great conviction, certainly in comparison with Turner. The sense that the artist based his depiction of a rough sea breaking on the rocks at Dunstanburgh on conventions developed by other artists, rather than on close personal observation, is perhaps not surprising, as 1796 may have been the first time that he actually encountered coastal scenery on travels that had hitherto been confined to locations chosen for their antiquarian interest. The dependence on existing conventions and models is equally true for the figures, as it is highly unlikely that he witnessed and sketched men salvaging wreckage or cargo from the sea, as shown here. Faced with the reputation of the north-east coast as hazardous for shipping, Girtin seems to have turned to the example of George Morland (1763–1804) for the source of his figures, though it may be that he had something more sinister in mind than the aftermath of a storm, for they bear a striking resemblance to two of the men shown in Morland’s The Wreckers (see figure 2).
The group of views of Northumbrian castles from 1797 and 1798 illustrate for the first time one of the most idiosyncratic features of Girtin’s mature finished watercolours: the fact that he was sometimes happy to incorporate the drying fold found in the handmade cartridge and wrapping papers he used. This manifests itself in this work and in Warkworth Hermitage (TG1096) as a vertical band where the watercolour washes have accumulated in the disturbance in the paper’s surface caused during its manufacture when it was laid on a line to dry out. Such is the vigour of Girtin’s style that this potentially disruptive feature appears quite in keeping.
(?) 1796
Dunstanburgh Castle, Viewed from a Distance
TG1100
1794 - 1797
An Unidentified Fort on a Cliff by the Sea
TG0662
1798 - 1799
Bamburgh Castle
TG1104
1796 - 1797
Lindisfarne Castle
TG1113
1798
Warkworth Hermitage
TG1096