- Description
-
- Creator(s)
- Thomas Girtin (1775-1802)
- Title
-
- The River Dee, near Corwen
- Date
- 1798
- Medium and Support
- Graphite and watercolour on paper
- Dimensions
- 12.5 × 19.5 cm, 4 ⅞ × 7 ⅝ in
- Inscription
‘T. Girtin / 16 Augt 1798’ on the mount in a contemporary hand, possibly by Thomas Girtin; ‘Sketch of a Scene near Corwen / taken on the Spot by / T. Girtin. Augt 1798’ on the reverse of the mount
- Object Type
- On-the-spot Colour Sketch
- Subject Terms
- North Wales; River Scenery
-
- Collection
- Catalogue Number
- TG1347
- Description Source(s)
- Auction Catalogue
Provenance
Mrs J. Firmin; her sale, Sotheby’s, 21 November 1984, lot 95, £726
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
Southill Park, Bedfordshire
Rhuddlan Castle, from the River Clwyd
Tate, London
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, North Wales
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 & Museum, Birkenhead
The Cain Falls (Pistyll Cain), near Dolgellau
British Museum, London
The Cain Falls (Pistyll Cain), near Dolgellau
Birmingham Museums & 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
Pont y Pair, Betws-y-Coed
Harvard Art Museums / Fogg Museum, Loan from George and Patti White
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
Wroxeter: The Roman Wall
Harvard Art Museums / Fogg Museum, Loan from George and Patti White
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
Southill Park, Bedfordshire
Cadair Idris, from the Estuary near Barmouth
Private Collection
Revisions & Feedback
The website will be updated from time to time and, when changes are made, a PDF of the previous version of each page will be archived here for consultation and citation.
Please help us to improve this catalogue
If you have information, a correction or any other suggestions to improve this catalogue, please contact us.
About this Work
This small view of the river Dee near Corwen was sketched on the spot during Girtin’s tour of North Wales in the summer of 1798. It appears to have been taken from about half a kilometre to the south of the village, looking towards the bridge crossing the river. The sketch is known only from a black and white image in an auction catalogue, so it has not been possible to verify the status of either the inscription on the mount or the one on the back, which date Girtin’s presence in Corwen to 16 August 1798. This is of some importance, because although the modest sketch did not form the basis of any studio watercolour, it actually provides us with the only securely documented date for the 1798 tour. Moreover, because we know that Girtin was in London on 28 August, the day on which his portrait was drawn by George Dance (1741–1825) (TG1933), the date of 16 August on this drawing indicates that it was made on the return leg of the artist’s tour, helping to show that he took a broadly anti-clockwise route. But what is so curious here is that whilst so many of Girtin’s contemporaries not only dated their on-the-spot sketches but even noted the time that they were executed, Girtin, with the exception of just two pencil drawings from 1791 and 1792 (TG0059 and TG0016), only ever occasionally added a date, and nothing more specific than the year was ever recorded. Why it was that just once, on Monday 16 August 1798, that the artist added a precise date to a drawing is therefore something of a mystery, but the fact that it was a unique occurrence suggests to me that it can be trusted as evidence of the artist’s movements, even if there is no proof that the inscription is in Girtin’s hand.
Another river view by Girtin appears to show the same bridge near Corwen (TG1348), though it was titled ‘Conway’ by Thomas Girtin (1874–1960) and David Loshak on the basis of an inscription on the reverse of the drawing (Girtin and Loshak, 1954, p.170). Although the watercolour is worked on the same small scale, it does not appear to have been made on the spot.
1798
Profile Portrait of Thomas Girtin
TG1933
1792
All Saints’ Church, Fulham, from the Seven Bells, Putney
TG0059
1791
St Mary’s Church, Battersea
TG0016
1798 - 1799
A River Scene, Probably on the Dee near Corwen
TG1348