
1795 - 1796
Hawarden Castle
TG0243

1792 - 1793
Conwy Castle, Looking West
TG0107

1792 - 1793
The Gatehouse, Denbigh Castle
TG0133

(?) 1798
Hawarden Castle
TG1350

1795 - 1796
Hawarden Castle
TG0243

1795 - 1796
Hawarden Castle
TG0274
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Primary Image: TG0274: Thomas Girtin (1775–1802), after (?) James Moore (1762–99), Hawarden Castle, 1795–96, pen and ink on laid paper, 31 × 43.2 cm, 12 ¼ × 17 in. The National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth.
Photo courtesy of The National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth (All Rights Reserved)
Thomas Calvert Girtin (1801–74); then by descent to Thomas Girtin (1874–1960); Thomas Lowinsky (1892–1947), by 1938; ... Sotheby’s, 10 July 1986, lot 99, unsold
1795 - 1796
Hawarden Castle
TG0243
1792 - 1793
Conwy Castle, Looking West
TG0107
1792 - 1793
The Gatehouse, Denbigh Castle
TG0133
(?) 1798
Hawarden Castle
TG1350
1795 - 1796
Hawarden Castle
TG0243
1795 - 1796
Hawarden Castle
TG0274
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Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
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Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
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The Huntington Library, Art Museum and Botanical Gardens, San Marino
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Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
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Private Collection, Scotland
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
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Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
Birmingham Museums & Art Gallery
Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
Private Collection
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Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
Private Collection
Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
Clark Art Institute, Williamstown
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
Private Collection
Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
Private Collection
Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
Private Collection
Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
Philadelphia Museum of Art
Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
Private Collection
Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
Hastings Museum and Art Gallery
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National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh
Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
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Bolton Museum and Art Gallery
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The Huntington Library, Art Museum and Botanical Gardens, San Marino
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
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Harvard Art Museums / Fogg Museum, Loan from George and Patti White
Private Collection
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The Huntington Library, Art Museum and Botanical Gardens, San Marino
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Private Collection, Norfolk
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About this Work
At first sight this pen and ink drawing of the old ruined castle of Hawarden in Flintshire, North Wales, together with a near identical version from the same collection (TG0243), appears, initially at least, to have been made after a sketch by the amateur artist and antiquarian James Moore (1762–99) (see figure 1) that was realised as an aquatint in 1793 (see figure 2). Moore, Girtin’s first patron, toured North Wales in the summer of 1791 and his sketch of the castle keep on top of an impressive Norman mound, dated 22 August, contains many of the same elements as Girtin’s drawing. However, closer examination reveals differences in the disposition of the masonry in the foreground, and more significantly the viewpoint of Girtin’s view seems to have been shifted to the left. It is possible that the artist freely adapted his patron’s work in order to create a more interesting composition, but there is no evidence that either version of the drawing entered Moore’s collection. In any case the pen and ink studies are larger than the works Girtin typically produced for his patron and it is difficult to see how they can be related to the work he is documented as having undertaken for Moore between October 1792 and February 1793, which included a number of North Welsh scenes, such as Conwy Castle, Looking West (TG0107) and The Gatehouse, Denbigh Castle (TG0133). It is conceivable that Girtin visited Hawarden on his trip to North Wales in the summer of 1798 and that this drawing therefore was sketched on the spot, or at least begun there, and this is indeed what I suspect was the case with another view of the castle (TG1350). However, that drawing, whilst it adopts the same viewpoint as the Moore sketch, displays a knowledge of the architecture of the castle and is rendered with a convincing air that is lacking in these two works. Therefore, my tentative conclusion is that both Hawarden drawings (TG0243 and TG0274) were copied sometime around 1795–96 from an untraced alternative view by Moore and that the poor quality of the amateur’s sketch of a highly promising subject encouraged the artist to visit the site himself in 1798. As for why Girtin should produce two near-identical versions of the same drawing, I am frankly at a loss other than to point out that the artist made replicas of his own drawings on more than a dozen occasions. What little evidence we have on the matter suggests that this happened when he found a purchaser for a sketch and wished to keep a copy for his own reference, though that does not seem to have been the case here, and there is simply no way of knowing which was the first version either.