- Description
-
- Creator(s)
- Thomas Girtin (1775-1802)
- Title
-
- The Red Castle, from Hawk Lake, with a Distant View of Shrewsbury
- Date
- 1798 - 1799
- Medium and Support
- Graphite and watercolour on paper
- Dimensions
- 18 × 26.5 cm, 7 ⅛ × 10 ½ in
- Object Type
- Studio Watercolour
- Subject Terms
- Castle Ruins; River Scenery; Shropshire View
-
- Collection
- Catalogue Number
- TG1352
- Description Source(s)
- Viewed in 2003
Provenance
Sotheby’s, 12 June 2003, lot 128 as 'A Distant View of Shrewsbury', unsold
Place depicted
Other entries in The 1798 Welsh Tour:
Sketches and Subsequent Watercolours
Rhuddlan Castle, from the River Clwyd
Cantor Arts Center, Stanford University
Rhuddlan Castle, from the River Clwyd
Private Collection, Bedfordshire
Rhuddlan Castle, from the River Clwyd
Tate, London
The Great Hall, Conwy Castle
Graves Art Gallery, Sheffield
The Eagle Tower, Caernarfon Castle
National Museum of Wales, Cardiff
The Eagle Tower, Caernarfon Castle
Victoria and Albert Museum, London
The Eagle Tower, Caernarfon Castle
Norwich Castle Museum and Art Gallery
The Eagle Tower, Caernarfon Castle
Private Collection
Caernarfon: A Street Scene with Plas Mawr
Tate, London
Caernarfon Castle, from the River Seiont
British Museum, London
Caernarfon Castle, from the River Seiont
Williamson Art Gallery, Birkenhead
The Cain Falls (Pistyll Cain), near Dolgellau
British Museum, London
The Cain Falls (Pistyll Cain), near Dolgellau
Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery
A Mountain View, near Beddgelert
British Museum, London
A Bridge over the Glaslyn, near Beddgelert
British Museum, London
Pont Seiont, Looking Towards Mynydd Mawr (Big Mountain)
British Museum, London
Pont Seiont, Looking Towards Mynydd Mawr (Big Mountain)
Private Collection
Llyn Tegid (Bala Lake), Looking towards Cadair Idris
Private Collection
A View of Hills and a River, Probably in North Wales
British Museum, London
Denbigh Castle and the Vale of Clwyd
British Museum, London
An Unidentified Landscape, Possibly the Vale of Clwyd
Valle Crucis Abbey, from the River; Studies of Seated Figures
Private Collection
Valle Crucis Abbey, from the River
Private Collection
Valle Crucis Abbey, from the River
Private Collection
Valle Crucis Abbey, from the River
National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth
Valle Crucis Abbey, from the River
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
Valle Crucis Abbey: From the Cloister Looking Towards the Dormitory
Private Collection
Valle Crucis Abbey: The Chapter House, from the South West
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
A River Scene, Probably the Dee near Corwen
The Huntington Library, Art Museum and Botanical Gardens, San Marino
The Cloisters of Chester Cathedral
Private Collection
The Red Castle, from Hawk Lake, with a Distant View of Shrewsbury
Private Collection
The Old Severn Bridge at Bridgnorth
British Museum, London
Hereford Cathedral, from across the River Wye
Private Collection
The Great Hall, Kenilworth Castle
National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa
The Great Hall, Kenilworth Castle
Private Collection
The Great Hall, Kenilworth Castle
Private Collection
An Unidentified Valley, Probably in North Wales
Private Collection, Bedfordshire
Cadair Idris, from the Estuary near Barmouth
Private Collection
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About this Work
This small watercolour showing a view of the Red Castle, taken from Hawk Lake in Hawkstone Park, with a distant view of Shrewsbury to the south, must be one of the most obscure topographical subjects undertaken by Girtin. The view does not even show the sandstone castle itself but an outlying tower, and the view of Shrewsbury is inconsequential compared to the tiny village of Weston-under-Redcastle at the edge of the lake. Hawkstone is near the Welsh border in Shropshire, and in theory it was accessible to Girtin either travelling to or from North Wales in the summer of 1798. However, it is difficult to believe that the artist would have taken a sketch of such a subject without prompting from a patron who had local knowledge and who alone might wish to commission a view that does not appear to have been depicted either before or since.
The watercolour only appeared in public for the first time in 2003, when it was sold without any evidence of who the first owner was – frustratingly, as an early provenance would surely help us to understand its status and function. There is a possibility, however, that the work is related in some way to another Shropshire view, Wroxeter: The Roman Wall (TG1353), which measures roughly the same and is comparable stylistically. A similar image of the Roman ruins at Wroxeter was etched by one of Girtin’s closest followers, the artist William Pearson (1772–1849), and it was included in his book Select Views of the Antiquities of Shropshire (see TG1353 figure 1). Such is the congruence between the two views, it is even possible that Girtin adapted his view of Wroxeter from a drawing by Pearson, rather than sketching it from life. If that was the case, then might it also be true for this depiction of Hawkstone? Pearson included a quite different view of the castle in his book, but he was clearly aware of the visual attractions of the subject, which he described as calculated to ‘amuse the antiquary, whilst the bold surrounding scenery will afford infinite gratification to the man of taste, and full scope to the pencil of the Artist’ (Pearson, 1807, pl.37). This is clearly not enough to establish a definite link between Girtin and Pearson, but it does strongly suggest that Girtin’s view was produced for, or in response to, an author or collector steeped in the study of the topography and history of the Welsh borders.
1798 - 1799
Wroxeter: The Roman Wall
TG1353