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Works Thomas Girtin

Richmond, Yorkshire: The Seventeenth-Century House Known as St Nicholas

(?) 1796

Primary Image: TG1461: Thomas Girtin (1775–1802), Richmond, Yorkshire: The Seventeenth-Century House Known as St Nicholas, (?) 1796, graphite on paper, 12.1 × 19.1 cm, 4 ¾ × 7 ½ in. Private Collection.

Photo courtesy of Agnew's (All Rights Reserved)

Description
Creator(s)
Thomas Girtin (1775-1802)
Title
  • Richmond, Yorkshire: The Seventeenth-Century House Known as St Nicholas
Date
(?) 1796
Medium and Support
Graphite on paper
Dimensions
12.1 × 19.1 cm, 4 ¾ × 7 ½ in
Object Type
Outline Drawing
Subject Terms
Picturesque Vernacular; Rural Labour; Yorkshire View

Collection
Versions
Richmond, Yorkshire: The Seventeenth-Century House Known as St Nicholas (TG1062)
Catalogue Number
TG1461
Description Source(s)
Witt Library Photograph

Provenance

Thos. Agnew & Sons, 1968 (stock no.7055)

Exhibition History

Agnew’s, 1968, no.40 as ’The Manor House, Richmond’

About this Work

This drawing of a seventeenth-century house on the outskirts of Richmond in Yorkshire 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 this drawing is not dated (TG1062), but another of the artist’s views of Richmond was published as an engraving in 1798 (see print after TG1067), and, given that the artist is not known to have revisited the town at a later date, it is highly likely that this was one of the first sketches that Girtin made on his 1796 trip.

The work was formerly known as ‘The Manor House, Richmond’, but it actually shows the seventeenth-century house that was built on the site of the medieval hospital of St Nicholas. The building still stands, albeit in a modified form, and has claims to be the oldest structure in the town to be in continuous habitation, though if the finished watercolour is a good guide, it may have been in a run-down state when Girtin visited. The watercolour, expanding on hints seen in this drawing, makes it look as though the building was tenanted by a farmer and his wife, who tend their livestock in the foreground.

1797 - 1798

Richmond, Yorkshire: The Seventeenth-Century House Known as St Nicholas

TG1062

1796 - 1797

Richmond Castle and Town, from the South East

TG1067

by Greg Smith

Place depicted

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