- Description
-
- Creator(s)
- Thomas Girtin (1775-1802)
- Title
-
- Valle Crucis Abbey, from the River
- Date
- 1798 - 1799
- Medium and Support
- Graphite and watercolour on laid paper
- Dimensions
- 20.3 × 29.2 cm, 8 × 11 ½ in; reduced to 16.5 × 29.2 cm, 6 ½ × 11 ½ in
- Object Type
- Studio Watercolour
- Subject Terms
- Monastic Ruins; North Wales; River Scenery
-
- Collection
- Versions
-
Valle Crucis Abbey, from the River; Studies of Seated Figures
(TG1339)
Valle Crucis Abbey, from the River (TG1340)
Valle Crucis Abbey, from the River (TG1342)
Valle Crucis Abbey, from the River (TG1343)
- Catalogue Number
- TG1341
- Girtin & Loshak Number
- 292iii as 'Valle Crucis Abbey'
- Description Source(s)
- Auction Catalogue
Provenance
Arthur Mason Worthington (1852–1916); then by descent to Dr Robert Albert Worthington (d.1945); Mrs Gilson (Girtin and Loshak, 1954); Christie's, 8 July 1986, lot 124; Phillips, 21 March 1994, lot 5, unsold; John Phillips, sold to the present owner, 1994
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
Interior View of 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
Footnotes
- 1 Thanks to Nicholas Williams for drawing my attention to the sale. I hope to include an image of the work in a forthcoming update of the catalogue
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About this Work
This view of the ruined abbey church of Valle Crucis, seen from across the Eglwyseg river, is one of four studio watercolours that Girtin created from a pencil sketch (TG1339) that he made on his tour of North Wales in 1798 (the others being TG1340, TG1342 and TG1343). I was not able to source an image of the work when first cataloging it and I relied on the attribution of Thomas Girtin (1874–1960) and David Loshak who listed it along with the other three versions of the composition (Girtin and Loshak, 1954, p.174). The discovery of the 1994 auction catalogue where the drawing is illustrated suggests that although the work is very faded and damaged it is indeed the work of Girtin1. The existence of four autograph versions makes the composition one of Girtin’s most popular commercially. All on the same modest scale, roughly 21.5 × 30 cm (8 ½ × 11 ¾ in) – and, like this example, without early provenances – it seems that rather than being made as commissions, they were sold on the open market to meet the demand for picturesque views of Welsh scenery that arose from the region’s increasing popularity with tourists.
(?) 1798
Valle Crucis Abbey, from the River; Studies of Seated Figures
TG1339
1798 - 1799
Valle Crucis Abbey, from the River
TG1340
1798 - 1799
Valle Crucis Abbey, from the River
TG1342
1798 - 1799
Valle Crucis Abbey, from the River
TG1343