- Description
-
- Creator(s)
- Thomas Girtin (1775-1802)
- Title
-
- Hatfield House, from the South East
- Date
- 1799 - 1800
- Medium and Support
- Graphite on wove paper
- Dimensions
- 32.2 × 54 cm, 12 ⅝ × 21 ¼ in
- Inscription
‘62’ upper right, in pen and ink
- Object Type
- Outline Drawing
- Subject Terms
- Country House View; London and Environs
-
- Collection
- Catalogue Number
- TG1572
- Girtin & Loshak Number
- 395 as 'Hatfield House, Hertfordshire'; '1800'
- Description Source(s)
- Viewed in 2001 and 2018
Provenance
Possibly Christie’s, 18 May 1810, lot 171 as 'View of Hatfield House'; ... Chambers Hall (1786–1855); presented to the Museum, 1855
Bibliography
Binyon, 1898–1907, no.64
Place depicted
Other entries in Edward Lascelles and Harewood, Together with Other Houses of the Gentry
The Summer House in the Garden of Samuel Wood at Southgate
Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
Alnwick Castle, from Brizlee
Private Collection, Northumberland
Ships in a Harbour, Possibly at Bristol
Harewood House, Yorkshire
An Estuary Scene, Probably in the West Country
Harewood House, Yorkshire
A Mountain View, near Beddgelert
National Museum of Wales, Cardiff
A Circular Temple, Said to Be in Harewood Park
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
A Lake Scene with Cattle, Said to Be in Harewood Park
Private Collection
A Close View of Harewood House, from the South East
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
Harewood House, from the South West
Harewood House, Yorkshire
Harewood House, from the South East
Harewood House, Yorkshire
Buildings on the River Nidd, near Knaresborough
Toledo Museum of Art
Plumpton Rocks, near Knaresborough
Victoria and Albert Museum, London
On the River Wharfe at Bolton Abbey
Victoria and Albert Museum, London
A Reconstruction of the Elizabethan Wing of Moreton Corbet Castle
Private Collection
A Reconstruction of Moreton Corbet Castle, from the West
Private Collection
A Landscape with an Unidentified House
Blackburn Museum and Art Gallery
An Unidentified House in an Open Landscape
Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, Hobart
An Unidentified Small Country House or Lodge
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
The North Front of Chalfont Lodge, Seen from the Lake
Private Collection
The South Front of Chalfont Lodge, Seen from across the Lawn
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
The South Front of Chalfont Lodge, Seen from across the Lawn
Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery
Chalfont House, from the North East, with Fishermen Netting the Broadwater
Private Collection, Herefordshire
Chalfont House, from the North West
Private Collection, Herefordshire
Melville Castle
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
A Distant View of Arundel Castle, from the South
Private Collection, Sussex
A Lake Surrounded by Trees, Known as 'The Silent Pool'
Private Collection
A Lake Scene with Two Herons, Possibly in Cassiobury Park
Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery
Hatfield House, from the South East
British Museum, London
A House and Garden at Winster in Derbyshire
British Museum, London
A House at Winster
Victoria and Albert Museum, London
An Unidentified Georgian House, Said to Be Lobes Hill in Shropshire
Private Collection
A Distant View of a Castle, Said to Be Lowther in Westmorland
Private Collection
An Ornamental Ruin in a Park; A Tree on a Mound
British Museum, London
A Distant View of Knaresborough, from the South East
The Whitworth, University of Manchester
Guisborough Priory: The Ruined East End
National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh
Jedburgh from the River, with the Abbey Beyond
National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin
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About this Work
This large pencil drawing shows Hatfield House from the south east, looking across the park to the great Jacobean mansion that was built for Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury (1563–1612), between 1607 and 1612. The British Museum follows the date given to the drawing by Thomas Girtin (1874–1960) and David Loshak (1800) but gives no evidence for this, and in truth it may have been produced at almost any time between 1796 and 1800, either on a day trip from London or on the way to or from the north of England on one of the artist’s tours (Girtin and Loshak, 1954, p.188). The exceptional size of the drawing (equalled only by the outlines Girtin produced for his London panorama) combined with the wealth of detail that is included suggests that it was not copied from another artist. Moreover, the considerable investment of time involved in the production of an on-the-spot sketch on this scale suggests that Girtin had a major finished watercolour in mind. Nothing has so far been traced, though an item titled ‘Hatfield’ and said to be dated 1802 appeared at an auction in 1896, where it was attributed to ‘Girtin and Pearson’ (Exhibitions: Christie’s, 25 February 1896, lot 164). However, the low price that the item realised suggests that this was not a studio watercolour similar to the large distant views of Arundel Castle (TG1567) and Alnwick Castle (TG1092), and that any plans the artist may have had came to nothing. Those watercolours do not appear to have been commissioned by the owners of the properties, and I suspect that this was the case with this sketch too. The fact that the sketch did not lead to any significant outcome also strikes me as regrettable as the intricate architectural detailing of Hatfield House might have been expected to have provided a more satisfying subject than the classical styling of Harewood House, though the landscape setting at Hatfield is arguably less compelling.
1799 - 1800
A Distant View of Arundel Castle, from the South
TG1567
1799 - 1800
Alnwick Castle, from Brizlee
TG1092