- Description
-
- Creator(s)
- Thomas Girtin (1775-1802)
- Title
-
- Pegwell Bay, near Ramsgate
- Date
- 1796
- Medium and Support
- Graphite and watercolour on paper, on an original washline mount
- Dimensions
- 10.5 × 16.5 cm, 4 ⅛ × 6 ½ in
- Inscription
‘Girtin 96’ lower left, by Thomas Girtin; 'Pegwell Bay / nr Ramsgate’ on the back, by Thomas Girtin
- Object Type
- Colour Sketch: Studio Work
- Subject Terms
- Coasts and Shipping; Dover and Kent
-
- Collection
- Catalogue Number
- TG0372
- Description Source(s)
- Viewed in 2004
Provenance
Sotheby’s, 26 March 2004, lot 105, £12,000; Martyn Gregory Ltd
Place depicted
Other entries in First Steps as a Professional Artist:
James Moore and British Antiquities
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An Interior View of the Ruined East End of Tynemouth Priory Church
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
Jedburgh Abbey, from the East
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Craigmillar Castle, near Edinburgh
Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
The West Front of Exeter Cathedral, and St Mary Major
The Mellon Bank Collection, Pittsburgh
Stonehenge during a Thunderstorm
Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
The East End of Tynemouth Priory Church
Private Collection
Kidwelly Castle
Rhode Island School of Design Museum, Providence
Ludlow Castle: The Gatehouse
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Dumbarton Rock and the Castle, from the North West
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
Jedburgh Abbey, from the East
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
Interior of the Albion Mills, Southwark, after the Fire
Private Collection
Kinloss Abbey: The Abbot's House
National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh
Conwy Castle, Looking West
Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
Duff House, from the South
Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
An Unidentified Round Tower
The Huntington Library, Art Museum and Botanical Gardens, San Marino
Glasgow Cathedral, from the North East
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
Part of the Ruins of Alton Castle
Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
The West Front of Valle Crucis Abbey Church
Private Collection
The Albion Mills, Southwark, after the Fire
Newport Museum and Art Gallery
Bamburgh Castle, from the East
Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
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Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery
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Touchstones Rochdale
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Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
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Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
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London Metropolitan Archives
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Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
Kirkstall Abbey, from the South East
Private Collection
Buildwas Abbey
Rhode Island School of Design Museum, Providence
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Private Collection
The Great Gate, St Augustine’s Abbey, Canterbury
Philadelphia Museum of Art
Conwy Castle: The Bakehouse Tower
Private Collection
Lindisfarne Priory Church, Looking West from the Choir
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Kirkstall Abbey, from the North West
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
The Tithe Barn at Abbotsbury, with St Catherine's Chapel on the Hill
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
Kirkstall Abbey, from the South East
Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
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Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
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Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
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Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
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Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
The Great Keep, Kenilworth Castle, with Leicester's Gatehouse in the Distance
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
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Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
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Indianapolis Museum of Art at Newfields
The Gatehouse, Denbigh Castle
Private Collection
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Private Collection
Ewell Church, with a Funeral Procession Approaching
Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane
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Private Collection
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Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
A Cow Grazing near a Pond, with a Church Tower Beyond
Private Collection
Duff House, from the River
Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
A Landscape with a Shepherd and Flock
The Huntington Library, Art Museum and Botanical Gardens, San Marino
Melrose Abbey, from the South West
Private Collection
A Cottage, Said to Be near Battle in Sussex
Private Collection
Ely Cathedral, from the South East
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The East End of Valle Crucis Abbey Church
Private Collection
The East End of Valle Crucis Abbey Church
Private Collection
Lindisfarne Priory Church, Looking West from the Choir
Private Collection, Scotland
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Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
Pevensey Castle: The North Tower with the Gatehouse in the Distance
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
The Spire of Salisbury Cathedral, from Chorister's Green
Private Collection
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Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
The Landgate, Rye
Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
The Gatehouse, Saltwood Castle
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
The Gatehouse, Saltwood Castle
Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
The Strand Gate, Winchelsea
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
The West Tower, All Saints' Church, Hastings
Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
Rochester Castle, from the South
Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
The West Front of Byland Abbey
Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery
All Saints' Church, Hastings, from the North East
Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
An Ancient House, Possibly in Sussex
Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
Kenilworth Castle: The View from the South
Private Collection
Tolleshunt D’Arcy Church
Private Collection
St Peter's Church, Bexhill, from the South East
Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
The Ruined Gatehouse, Saltwood Castle, Seen from the North
Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
The Ruined Gatehouse, Pevensey Castle, from the East
Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
The Ruined Gatehouse, Pevensey Castle
Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
The Gatehouse, Battle Abbey
Clark Art Institute, Williamstown
Carlisle Cathedral, from the South West
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
The Gatehouse, Battle Abbey
Private Collection
St Mary the Virgin, Eastbourne
Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
An Unidentified Landscape with a Figure Seated on a Gate under a Tree
Private Collection
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Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
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Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
Pevensey Castle: View of the North and East Towers
Private Collection
The Ruins of the Great Hall, Kenilworth Castle
Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
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Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
The Refectory, St Martin’s Priory, Dover
Philadelphia Museum of Art
Saltwood Castle: The Gatehouse from a Farmyard
Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
Spynie Palace: A Coastal View
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
St Clement's Church, with Hastings in the Distance
Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
The East End of the Church of St Thomas, Winchelsea
Private Collection
The East End of the Church of St Thomas, Winchelsea
Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
The West Tower, St Clement's Church, Hastings; Studies of a Horse in Harness and Numerous Architectural Details
Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
Undercliff, near Hastings
Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
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Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
An Unidentified Village with a Half-Timbered House
Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
Hastings: The View across the Beach to Castle Hill
Hastings Museum and Art Gallery
Hastings Castle and Priory Bridge
Hastings Museum and Art Gallery
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National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh
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Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
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Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
St Peter's Church, Bexhill: The West Tower
Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
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Bolton Museum and Art Gallery
The East End of Icklesham Church
Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
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The Huntington Library, Art Museum and Botanical Gardens, San Marino
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Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
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Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
One of the Alard Monuments in the Church of St Thomas, Winchelsea
Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
A Thatched Barn with Farm Animals
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A Farmyard with Pigs Drinking at a Pond
The Huntington Library, Art Museum and Botanical Gardens, San Marino
A Barn with a Figure, Cattle and Poultry
Courtauld Gallery, London
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About this Work
This signed and dated watercolour showing Pegwell Bay, near Ramsgate on the Kent coast, is based on a drawing by the antiquarian and amateur artist James Moore (1762–99) that Girtin appears to have worked over with a monochrome wash (TG0217). That drawing was almost certainly begun in 1795 during Moore’s trip to the southern counties, and there is no evidence that Girtin visited the location himself, meaning his contribution is likely to have occurred later, in London. Certainly, he did not travel to the south coast in 1796, the date inscribed on this work, when he journeyed instead to the north east of England and to the Scottish Borders. There are a number of coloured and monochrome sketches that date from that trip, such as the large study of Warkworth Hermitage (TG1095), but there is also a series of small watercolours, sketch-like in appearance, such as Bothal Castle, from the River Wansbeck (TG1089), which, as in this case, must have been produced back in the studio. One of these, a view of Seaton Sluice in Northumberland (TG1088), was even sold as a pair of this dated drawing of Pegwell Bay, measuring the same size (10.5 × 16.5 cm, 4 ¼ × 6 ½ in) and sharing significant stylistic links, as well a basic composition that effectively mirrors the south coast scene.
The implications of the link between the two coastal views are surprisingly far reaching given their small scale. Specifically, the fact that the dated view of Pegwell Bay could not have been painted on the spot means that the north-eastern view, even though it has all the appearance of being sketched at speed on the spot, was very likely made after the 1796 tour. From this it follows that Girtin was therefore beginning to produce a new type of small-scale commodity that, because it was painted with evident dispatch, purported to be a colour sketch. There is no evidence that either of these works was made for Moore, and the supposition must be that they were panted for another patron who favoured the informal qualities of a sketch over a finished studio watercolour. The sketches that Girtin actually coloured on his tours were never particularly numerous, and they were made for the artist’s own use, so the logical thing would have been for him to create a new supply of colour sketches in the studio based on his own pencil drawings, or, as here, on a monochrome derived from another artist. Hence the significance of the inscription of the location of the site on the back of this sketch-like work: its specificity hides the fact that the artist never actually visited Pegwell.
(?) 1795
Pegwell Bay, near Ramsgate
TG0217
(?) 1796
Warkworth Hermitage
TG1095
1796 - 1797
Bothal Castle, from the River Wansbeck
TG1089
1796 - 1797
Seaton Sluice
TG1088