- Description
-
- Creator(s)
- Thomas Girtin (1775-1802)
- Title
-
- Seaton Sluice
- Date
- (?) 1796
- Medium and Support
- Graphite on paper
- Dimensions
- 12.4 × 17.2 cm, 4 ⅞ × 6 ¾ in
- Inscription
‘Seaton Sluce’, ‘Hartley’; ‘Mrs Park’ on the back, by (?) Thomas Girtin
- Object Type
- Outline Drawing
- Subject Terms
- Coasts and Shipping; Durham and Northumberland
-
- Collection
- Versions
-
Seaton Sluice
(TG1088)
- Catalogue Number
- TG1087
- Girtin & Loshak Number
- 199 as '1796'
- Description Source(s)
- Girtin and Loshak, 1954
Provenance
Charles Sackville Bale (1791–1880); his posthumous sale, Christie’s, 16 May 1881, lot 391?; Edward Cohen (1817–86); then by bequest to his niece, Isabella Oswald (1838–1905); her posthumous sale, Robins & Hine, 30 March 1905, lot unknown; Henry Melville Gaskell (1879–1954), by 1929
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
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
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
Revisions & Feedback
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About this Work
This pencil sketch of the coast at Seaton Sluice, between Newcastle upon Tyne and Morpeth, was 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 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, even though the small studio watercolour that Girtin executed from his sketch is not dated (TG1088), the proximity of Seaton Sluice to a series of other subjects that must have been sketched in 1796 – such as Newcastle (TG1080) and Lindisfarne Priory (TG1105) – confirms that this tour was the occasion for its creation. Indeed, such is the obscurity of the subject that it is unlikely that the artist would have visited were it not for the fact that Seaton lay on the route that Girtin must have taken in 1796 between the more obviously picturesque sites of Tynemouth (TG1086) and Bothal Castle (TG1089).
Such is the unconventional nature of Girtin’s choice of subject that it requires some explanation, since what we are looking at is actually an artificial channel with its dock gates prominent above. Behind, the ship masts show the position of the harbour, which was first equipped with a sluice by Sir Ralph Delaval (1622–91) in the seventeenth century and around which glassworks, a brewery, brickworks and a lime kiln gathered. However, as a result of its continuing problems with silting, Sir John Hussey Delaval (1728–1808) undertook further improvements, completed in 1764, which saw the cutting of a deep channel through the rock, with large sluice gates added to control the water level. Although widely acclaimed as a major feat of engineering, this was nonetheless an unlikely subject for a commission, unless perhaps the two names recorded on the back of this sketch, a ‘Hartley’ and a ‘Mrs Park’, had a personal interest in the business enterprise.
1796 - 1797
Seaton Sluice
TG1088
(?) 1796
Newcastle-upon-Tyne
TG1080
(?) 1796
Lindisfarne: An Interior View of the Ruins of the Priory Church
TG1105
1797 - 1798
Tynemouth Priory, from the Coast
TG1086
1796 - 1797
Bothal Castle, from the River Wansbeck
TG1089