- 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

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
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