- Description
-
- Creator(s)
- Thomas Girtin (1775-1802) after (?) Edward Dayes (1763-1804)
- Title
-
- Raby Castle
- Date
- 1795 - 1796
- Medium and Support
- Graphite and watercolour on laid paper (card)
- Dimensions
- 7.7 × 12 cm, 3 × 4 ¾ in
- Object Type
- Colour Sketch: Studio Work
- Subject Terms
- Castle Ruins; Durham and Northumberland
-
- Collection
- Catalogue Number
- TG0362
- Description Source(s)
- Viewed in January 2018
Provenance
Dr Thomas Monro (1759–1833); his posthumous sale, Christie's, 26 June 1833, lot 81 or 82 as 'Views and ruins, in colours, on cards 10'; bought by Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775–1851), £8 18s; accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest, 1856
Exhibition History
National Gallery, London, on display up to 1904, no.818d
Bibliography
Finberg, 1909, vol.2, p.1243 as 'Raby Castle, Durham' by Thomas Girtin; Wilton, 1984a, p.12
Place depicted
Other entries in Topography without Travel:
The British Landscape at Second Hand

Windsor Castle, from the River Thames
Untraced Works

Windsor Castle: The Norman Gateway and the Round Tower, with Part of the Queen's Lodge
Clark Art Institute, Williamstown

The Interior of Tintern Abbey, Showing the Choir and North Transept
Blackburn Museum and Art Gallery

A View in Windsor Great Park with Deer
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

An Ancient House, Possibly in Sussex
Private Collection

The Interior of Tintern Abbey, Looking towards the West Window from the Choir
Norwich Castle Museum and Art Gallery

The Ruins of Newark Priory Church
Tate, London

Lancaster Castle and Priory Church, Seen with the Old Bridge over the River Lune
Private Collection

Barnard Castle and Bridge, from the River Tees
Tate, London

The Ruined West Front of Dunbrody Abbey Church, County Wexford, Ireland
Tate, London

The Refectory of Walsingham Priory
British Museum, London

The Ruined East End of Walsingham Priory Church
Tate, London

The West Tower of Rumburgh Priory Church
Tate, London

Dumbarton Rock, from the North
Tate, London

Part of the Ruins of Middleham Castle
Tate, London

Kidwelly Church, with the Castle Beyond
Tate, London

Kelso Abbey, from the North West
Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford

The Keep, Portchester Castle, from the North East
Tate, London

The Keep of Rochester Castle, from the South East
Tate, London

Part of the Ruins of Middleham Castle
Tate, London

Margam Abbey Church, from the North West
Tate, London

The Ruined East End of Walsingham Priory Church
Tate, London

The Ruins of the Holy Ghost Chapel, Basingstoke
Tate, London

The Medieval Kitchen, Stanton Harcourt
Tate, London

Part of the Ruins of Lewes Castle, from the West
Tate, London

Glasgow High Street, Looking towards the Cathedral
Tate, London

The Keep of Hedingham Castle, from the East
Tate, London

The South Transept, Much Wenlock Priory Church
Tate, London

Newport Castle, Monmouthshire
Private Collection

Portchester Castle, from the Outer Bailey
Tate, London

The Refectory of Walsingham Priory
Tate, London

An Unidentified Church close to a Road
British Museum, London

The Keep of Hedingham Castle, from the South West
Tate, London

Kirkstall Abbey, from the North West
Tate, London

Kirkstall Abbey, from the North West
Tate, London

The Ruined Gateway of Mettingham Castle
Tate, London

The Keep of Rochester Castle, Seen from outside the Walls
Tate, London

Tintern Abbey, from the River Wye
Private Collection

Tintern Abbey: The View from the Nave
Private Collection

The Market at Aberystwyth
Victoria and Albert Museum, London

Lancaster Castle, from the River Lune
Tate, London

Lancaster Castle, from the River Lune
Tate, London

Lancaster Priory Church, Seen with the Old Bridge over the River Lune
Tate, London

Buttermere Bridge, from the Fish Inn
Tate, London

The Medieval Kitchen, Stanton Harcourt
Private Collection, Norfolk

Rochester Cathedral, from the North East, with the Castle Beyond
Tate, London

Glasgow High Street: Looking towards the Cathedral
Tate, London

A Distant View of Corfe Castle
Tate, London

Chichester Cathedral, from the South West
Tate, London

The Gatehouse of Amberley Castle
Tate, London

A Lake and Mountains, Possibly in the Lake District
Tate, London

A Lake and Mountains, Possibly in the Lake District
Tate, London

An Unidentified View across a Lake, or along a Coast
Tate, London

A Road by a Pond, with a Church in the Distance
Tate, London

A Road by a Pond, with a Church in the Distance
British Museum, London

A Church Tower amongst Trees, with a Cart in the Foreground
British Museum, London

An Unidentified Landscape, with a Church amongst Trees
Tate, London

Trees near a Lake or River, at Twilight
Tate, London

A Hilly Landscape, with a Two-Arched Bridge
Private Collection

A Distant View of Tynemouth Priory, from the Sea
Tate, London

An Upland Landscape, Possibly in Northumberland
Private Collection

A Bridge in the Lake District, Possibly Grange Bridge, Borrowdale
Private Collection

Bridgnorth, on the River Severn
The Huntington Library, Art Museum and Botanical Gardens, San Marino

Knaresborough, from the River Nidd
Private Collection
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About this Work
This view of Raby Castle in County Durham, shown from the south west, is one of twenty or so small-scale watercolours that Girtin made for Dr Thomas Monro (1759–1833) and that are now in the Turner Bequest at Tate Britain. The watercolours, all painted on card measuring roughly 3 × 4 ¾ in (7.6 × 12.1 cm), were painted around 1795–96 after a set of outline drawings that are also now in the Turner Bequest, though the sketch for this view of Raby is not amongst them and has not been traced. Most of Girtin’s outlines were copied from the sketches of his first significant patron, the amateur artist and antiquarian James Moore (1762–99). However, in this instance, since Moore does not seem to have visited Raby, the ultimate source for the watercolour is to be found in a composition by Girtin’s master, Edward Dayes (1763–1804) (see figure 1), and the young artist certainly did not visit the site himself. Dayes made a watercolour of exactly the same view of Raby, which, since it is signed and dated 1790, was produced during the period of Girtin’s apprenticeship. However, Girtin produced the pencil drawings used as the basis for the coloured cards around 1794–95, a few years after leaving Dayes’ studio, and the ultimate source for his composition is more likely to have been the engraving of Raby that was published in The Seats of the Nobility and Gentry (Angus, 1787–97), which Monro would almost certainly have had a copy of in his library.
In comparison to Dayes’ view of the ‘Seat of Lord Darlington’, Girtin’s image of Raby stresses the antiquity of ‘this venerable Structure’, removing a framing tree to the right as well as excluding the two genteel figure groups in the foreground (Angus, 1787–97, vol.1, pl.25). Ironically, as a result, Girtin’s drawing better illustrates the text that accompanies the engraving than Dayes’ view. It ‘is a most noble massy Building … uninjured by any modern Improvements’, the text notes; it ‘is simply magnificent, and strikes by its Magnitude’. It is possible that Monro had such a publication in mind when he commissioned Girtin to produce small-scale watercolours such as this, but their rapid, even careless execution and sketch-like appearance, suggesting that the work was made on the spot, indicate a different kind of commodity. The subjects chosen for this informal sketch-like treatment also do not follow any obvious pattern, and Monro probably had no specific overarching theme in mind. This is the only country seat depicted, for instance, and it may be that nothing unites the group other than the fact that Girtin’s outlines provided a ready resource from which sketch-like watercolours might be rapidly produced.
The paper is discoloured as a result of excessive exposure to light whilst on long-term exhibition. The differently toned areas (top and right) were protected by an earlier mount.