- Description
-
- Creator(s)
- Thomas Girtin (1775-1802)
- Title
-
- Richmond Castle and Bridge, from the River Swale
- Date
- (?) 1796
- Medium and Support
- Graphite and watercolour on wove paper, (?) on an original mount
- Dimensions
- 12.8 × 20 cm, 5 × 7 ⅞ in
- Inscription
‘Girtin’ in pencil on the mount; ‘Richmond Yorkshire / Girtin’ on the back, neither in Thomas Girtin’s hand
- Object Type
- On-the-spot Colour Sketch
- Subject Terms
- Castle Ruins; River Scenery; Yorkshire View
-
- Versions
-
Richmond Castle and Bridge, from the River Swale
(TG1064)
- Catalogue Number
- TG1063
- Girtin & Loshak Number
- 252i as 'Richmond Castle'; '1798'
- Description Source(s)
- Viewed in 2001
Provenance
Randall Davies (1866–1946); his posthumous sale, Sotheby's, 11 February 1947, lot 237b (one of four); bought by P & D Colnaghi & Co., £32; Sir Bruce Stirling Ingram (1877–1963); bought by the Museum, 1963
Bibliography
Hardie, 1934, p.14
Place depicted
Other entries in The 1796 Northern Tour to Yorkshire, the North East and the Scottish Borders:
Sketches and Subsequent Watercolours
Bamburgh Castle, from the South
Cragside House, Northumberland (National Trust)
Durham Cathedral, from the South West
British Museum, London
The Ouse Bridge, York, from the North Shore
British Museum, London
The Ouse Bridge, York, from Skeldergate Postern
York Art Gallery
York: The New Walk on the Banks of the Ouse
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
York Minster, from the South West
Private Collection
York Minster, from the South West
Private Collection
York Minster, from the Ouse, with St Mary’s Abbey
Harewood House, Yorkshire
The South Side of York Minster, Showing the Transept and the Western Towers
Private Collection, Yorkshire
York Minster, from the South East, Layerthorpe Bridge and Postern to the Right
British Museum, London
Unidentified Gothic Ruins, Said to Be St Mary’s Abbey, York
Birmingham Museums & Art Gallery
A Distant View of Ripon Minster, from the River Skell
Private Collection
A Distant View of Ripon Minster, from the River Skell
Harewood House, Yorkshire
A Distant View of Rievaulx Abbey
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
Easby Abbey, from the River Swale
Private Collection
Easby Abbey, from the River Swale
Manchester Art Gallery
Easby Abbey, from the River Swale
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
The Bridge at Warkworth, with the Church Beyond
Victoria and Albert Museum, London
Richmond, Yorkshire: The Seventeenth-Century House Known as St Nicholas
British Museum, London
Richmond Castle and Bridge, from the River Swale
The Huntington Library, Art Museum and Botanical Gardens, San Marino
Richmond Castle and Bridge, from the River Swale
Victoria Gallery and Museum, University of Liverpool
Richmond Castle and Town, from the South East
Private Collection
Barnard Castle, from the River Tees
British Museum, London
Egglestone Abbey, from the River Tees
Gallery Oldham
Egglestone Abbey, on the River Tees
British Museum, London
Durham Cathedral and Castle, from the River Wear
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Durham Cathedral and Castle, from the River Wear
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester
Durham Cathedral and Castle, from the River Wear
J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles
Durham Castle and Cathedral, from below the Weir
Private Collection, Norfolk
Durham Castle and Cathedral, from below the Weir
Victoria and Albert Museum, London
Durham Castle and Cathedral, from below the Weir; Dryburgh Abbey with the Eildon Hills Beyond
Birmingham Museums & Art Gallery
Durham Cathedral, from the South West
Private Collection
St Nicholas’ Church, Newcastle-upon-Tyne
Private Collection
Tynemouth Priory, from the Coast
Cleveland Museum of Art
Bothal Castle, from the River Wansbeck
Private Collection
A River Scene with a Tower, Said to Be the Tyne near Hexham
Leeds Art Gallery
Warkworth Castle, from the River Coquet
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
Warkworth Castle, from the River Coquet
Private Collection, Norfolk
The Bridge at Warkworth, with the Castle Beyond
Untraced Works
Dunstanburgh Castle, Viewed from a Distance
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
Dunstanburgh Castle: The Lilburn Tower
Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle-upon-Tyne
Lindisfarne: An Interior View of the Ruins of the Priory Church
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester
Lindisfarne: An Interior View of the Ruins of the Priory Church
Fitzwilliam Museum, University of Cambridge
An Interior View of the Ruins of Lindisfarne Priory Church
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
Lindisfarne: The Nave and Crossing of the Priory Church
British Museum, London
An Exterior View of the Ruins of Lindisfarne Priory Church
Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
An Exterior View of the Ruins of Lindisfarne Priory Church
Private Collection
York Minster, from the South East, Layerthorpe Bridge and Postern to the Right
Victoria and Albert Museum, London
Dryburgh Abbey: The South Transept Looking North
Private Collection
Dryburgh Abbey: The South Transept from the Cloister
Private Collection
Melrose Abbey: The Ruined Presbytery and the East Window
Clark Art Institute, Williamstown
Melrose Abbey: The Ruined Presbytery and the East Window
Cooper Gallery, Barnsley
Melrose Abbey, from the North East
The Morgan Library & Museum, New York
Jedburgh Abbey, from the North East
Private Collection
Jedburgh Abbey, from Jed Water
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
The Village of Jedburgh, with the Abbey Ruins
British Museum, London
The Village of Jedburgh, with the Abbey Ruins
Private Collection, Bedfordshire
The West Front of Jedburgh Abbey
British Museum, London
Jedburgh Abbey, from the South East
Blickling Hall, Norfolk (National Trust)
The Ruins of the Lady Chapel, near Bothal
Rhode Island School of Design Museum, Providence
Bamburgh Castle, from the Village
Guy Peppiatt Fine Art Ltd
St Nicholas’ Church, Newcastle-upon-Tyne
Victoria Gallery and Museum, University of Liverpool
Richmond, Yorkshire: The Seventeenth-Century House Known as St Nicholas
Private Collection
An Interior View of Fountains Abbey: The East Window from the Presbytery
Graves Gallery, Sheffield
St Mary’s, Old Malton, on the River Derwent
Untraced Works
York: Pavement, Looking towards All Saints
Private Collection
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About this Work
This view of Richmond Castle in Yorkshire, seen from the south bank of the river Swale looking north east, was almost certainly made in 1796 on Girtin’s first independent sketching tour. Only one of the twenty or so pencil drawings and on-the-spot colour sketches that survive from the trip is dated, but it is still broadly possible to trace Girtin’s progress through Yorkshire, Durham, Northumberland and the Scottish Borders, in general terms, from the titles of the works that he sent to the 1797 Royal Academy exhibition, and from the dated watercolours that were subsequently produced from these and other untraced sketches. In this case, the watercolour that Girtin executed from his sketch is not dated (TG1064), but another of the artist’s views of Richmond was published as an engraving in 1798 (see print after TG1067), and, given that he is not known to have revisited the town at a later date, it is likely that this was one of the first sketches that Girtin made on his 1796 trip. The on-the-spot sketches Girtin made on the trip are divided roughly equally between outlines in graphite and coloured sketches, but this work is something of a hybrid, with the artist adding just a few areas of colour to a characteristic pencil drawing. It is possible that Girtin added the touches later in the studio to enhance the drawing and make it a more saleable commodity, but, on balance, I suspect that the colouring was done on the spot and, on the basis that there is no evidence that this was part of Girtin’s practice prior to the 1796 trip, this may indeed be the earliest example of Girtin working in colour from nature. The notion that the work was sold at a later date may, however, account for the presence of a washline mount around the sketch. This has not been the subject of a proper technical analysis, but, given that we can be fairly sure that Girtin mounted sketches such as A Distant View of Rievaulx Abbey (TG1055) in this way, it is quite possible that the border in this case was Girtin’s own, even if the partial colouring was done on the spot.
Girtin’s viewpoint on the banks of the river Swale is finely calculated to display the dramatic location of Richmond Castle, with the great Norman keep to the left and the east curtain wall leading to the Great Hall to the right, and it is telling that it is these that have been picked out in colour. In the foreground, crossing the river in three elegant arches, is the Green Bridge, designed by John Carr (1723–1807) of York and only recently completed (1789) at the time of Girtin’s visit.
1796 - 1797
Richmond Castle and Bridge, from the River Swale
TG1064
1796 - 1797
Richmond Castle and Town, from the South East
TG1067
1796 - 1797
A Distant View of Rievaulx Abbey
TG1055