- Description
-
- Creator(s)
- Thomas Girtin (1775-1802)
- Title
-
- Mountain Scenery, Said to Be near Beddgelert (page 15, reverse, of the Whitworth Book of Drawings)
- Date
- 1800 - 1801
- Medium and Support
- Graphite on wove paper
- Dimensions
- 14.6 × 21.7 cm, 5 ¾ × 8 ½ in
- Inscription
‘28’ lower left; ‘2’ top left; 'Bedgellert' on the back, by Thomas Girtin
- Part of
- Object Type
- Outline Drawing
- Subject Terms
- Hills and Mountains; North Wales
-
- Collection
- Catalogue Number
- TG1323
- Girtin & Loshak Number
- 362 as 'Mountain Scene (probably near Beddgelert)'; '1800'
- Description Source(s)
- Viewed in 2001, 2002 and 2022
Provenance
Sale at Platt Vicarage, Rusholme, Manchester, 1898; sketchbook bought by Shepherd; then by descent to F. W. Shepherd; his sale, Sotheby’s, 7 July 1977, lot 46; bought by Baskett and Day; bought by the Gallery, 1977
Bibliography
Hardie, 1938–39, no.3, p.92 as 'Mountain Scenery'
Place depicted
Other entries in Later Sketches:
Taken on the Spot and Worked in the Studio

Mountain Scenery, Said to Be near Beddgelert (page 15, reverse, of the Whitworth Book of Drawings)
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester

The Valley of the Glaslyn, near Beddgelert (page 15 of the Whitworth Book of Drawings)
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester

Trees in a Glade Overlooking a Lake
Private Collection

Middleham Village, with the Castle Beyond
Victoria and Albert Museum, London

An Extensive Landscape with the Ruins of Mitford Castle
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven

Plumpton Rocks, near Knaresborough
Private Collection

A Parkland Landscape with Cattle and Sheep
Private Collection

John Raphael Smith: 'Waiting for the Mail Coach' (mounted on page 1 of the Whitworth Book of Drawings)
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester

Chelsea Reach, Looking towards Battersea (page 11 of the Whitworth Book of Drawings)
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester

The Stables, Plompton Park (page 17 of the Whitworth Book of Drawings)
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester

Harewood House, from the South West (page 18 of the Whitworth Book of Drawings)
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester

Grimbald Bridge, near Knaresborough (page 20 of the Whitworth Book of Drawings)
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester

The Abbey Mill, near Knaresborough (page 25 of the Whitworth Book of Drawings)
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester

A Farmhouse in Malhamdale, Known as 'Kirkby Priory, near Malham' (page 26 of the Whitworth Book of Drawings)
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester

Sandsend (page 29 of the Whitworth Book of Drawings)
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester

Grimbald Crag, near Knaresborough (page 30 of the Whitworth Book of Drawings)
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester

A Crag on the River Nidd (page 31 of the Whitworth Book of Drawings)
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester

Guisborough Priory: The Ruined East End (page 33 of the Whitworth Book of Drawings)
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester

Stepping Stones on the River Wharfe
British Museum, London

An Interior View of the Choir of Bolton Priory
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven

Bolton Abbey, from the River Wharfe (page 37 of the Whitworth Book of Drawings)
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester

Bolton Abbey: The East End of the Priory Church, from across the River Wharfe (page 38 of the Whitworth Book of Drawings)
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester

The East End of Bolton Priory Church (pages 38–39 of the Whitworth Book of Drawings)
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester

A Distant View of Middleham Castle, with the River Ure in the Foreground (page 41 of the Whitworth Book of Drawings)
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester

Middleham Village, with the Castle Beyond (page 42 of the Whitworth Book of Drawings)
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester

A Village at the Bend of a River, Probably in Yorkshire (page 44 of the Whitworth Book of Drawings)
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester

Beached Vessels at Low Tide (page 46 of the Whitworth Book of Drawings)
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester

Five Craft off the Coast on a Calm Sea (page 47 of the Whitworth Book of Drawings)
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester

Shipping off the Coast on a Calm Sea (page 48 of the Whitworth Book of Drawings)
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester

The Ruins of Old Mulgrave Castle (page 49 of the Whitworth Book of Drawings)
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester

Mulgrave Park and Castle, from near Epsyke Farm
British Museum, London

The River Nidd between Knaresborough and Wetherby
Rhode Island School of Design Museum, Providence

Kirkstall Abbey, with a Canal Barge
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven

The River Nidd, between Knaresborough and Wetherby
Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle-upon-Tyne

The Valley of the Tweed, with Melrose Abbey in the Distance
Private Collection

A Clump of Trees by the Waterside
Private Collection

A Torrent by a Clump of Trees
Harvard Art Museums / Fogg Museum, Loan from George and Patti White

A River Valley and a Distant Hill Seen through Trees
Clark Art Institute, Williamstown

A Shady Road Leading to Cottages
British Museum, London

A Church in a Village, Possibly at Radwinter
British Museum, London

A Building with a Tall Chimney, next to a Stream
British Museum, London

Landscape with a Farmhouse and Cottage
Private Collection

A Schooner near the Shore
Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford

A Coast Scene with Two Beached Vessels
Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford

A Shipping Study: Five Craft on a Calm Sea
British Museum, London
Footnotes
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About this Work
This slight sketch of mountain scenery has been described as showing a scene near Beddgelert in Snowdonia, on the basis of its proximity in the Whitworth Book of Drawings (TG1323, TG1324 and TG1600–1625) to The Valley of the Glaslyn (TG1324) and because of the inscription on the back, and, moreover, that it dates from 1800 (Girtin and Loshak, 1954, p.183). However, the word ‘Bedgellert’ probably refers to the next image in the book and the paper on which it is drawn appears to be part of a gathering of sheets that includes a ‘1801’ watermark (TG1601), which is actually a copy of an earlier sketch made on the spot (TG1525). Such are the complexities of the make-up and function of the Book of Drawings that it is rarely possible to be sure about anything, but in this case I think it is safe to assume that this drawing was not, as Thomas Girtin (1874–1960) and David Loshak suggested, ‘Done on the spot’ in 1800, and that it is not evidence for a second visit to Wales in that year (Girtin and Loshak, 1954, p.183).
To understand why a sketch of a Welsh subject in a gathering of drawings from later in Girtin’s career is not indicative of an otherwise undocumented return trip to North Wales we need to know a little more about the complex, hybrid nature of the Book of Drawings. The book, which I have deliberately not referred to as a sketchbook, contains a number of different papers that, from their watermarks and arrangement within the binding, indicate that it includes a mix of copies from earlier works as well as sketches made on the spot at different times. Girtin executed the latter on a gathering of sheets of paper that he appears to have made up himself, probably around 1800, but also on separate pieces, which, given the fact that the end paper has a watermark of ‘1803’, must have been bound in after the artist’s death. This, I suspect, was done at the behest of the artist’s brother John Girtin (1773–1821) who appropriated material from the artist’s studio after his death including ‘4 little Books partly of sketches and partly blank paper’, a combination that accords with the unusual makeup of the book (Chancery, Income and Expenses, 1804).1
It follows from this that this sketch could indeed be a Welsh subject drawn on the spot in 1798 and that the sheet was added to others by Girtin in an informal gathering that had not assumed its final form. However, the more likely scenario given the sheet’s position within the Book of Drawings is that Girtin around 1800 made a partial copy of an earlier Welsh view and did not develop it to the same degree as The Valley of the Glaslyn (TG1324). The frustrating thing with our current state of knowledge about the ‘book’ is that although the second option is the likelier explanation for a Welsh subject, it is equally possible that the drawing actually depicts a Yorkshire scene and that its incomplete state is indicative of a rapid sketch made on the spot around 1800.
1800 - 1801
The Valley of the Glaslyn, near Beddgelert
TG1324
(?) 1801
Chelsea Reach, Looking towards Battersea
TG1601
1799 - 1800
Chelsea Reach, Looking towards Battersea
TG1525
1800 - 1801
The Valley of the Glaslyn, near Beddgelert
TG1324