- Description
-
- Creator(s)
- Thomas Girtin (1775-1802)
- Title
-
- Warkworth Castle, from the River Coquet
- Date
- 1797 - 1798
- Medium and Support
- Graphite and watercolour on laid paper
- Dimensions
- 33 × 54.2 cm, 13 × 21 ⅜ in
- Object Type
- Unfinished Studio Watercolour
- Subject Terms
- Castle Ruins; Durham and Northumberland; River Scenery
-
- Collection
-
- Private Collection, Norfolk
- (I-E-14)
- Versions
-
Warkworth Castle, from the River Coquet
(TG1093)
Warkworth Castle, from the River Coquet (TG1711)
- Catalogue Number
- TG1094
- Girtin & Loshak Number
- 350 as 'Warkworth Castle ... re-sketched and coloured on the spot'; '1800'
- Description Source(s)
- Viewed in 2001 and April 2022
Provenance
Sir James Thomas Knowles (1831–1908); his posthumous sale, Christie's, 28 May 1908, lot 262 as 'Landscape Studies, 5'; bought by J. Palser & Sons, £16 (stock no.16493); bought by Sir Hickman Bacon (1855–1945), 22 October 1908, 30 gns; then by descent
Exhibition History
London, 1946, no.94; Arts Council, 1946, no.79; Boston, 1948, no.137; Agnew’s, 1953a, no.31; Norwich, 1955, no.36; Geneva, 1955, no.71; Manchester, 1975, no.63; Nottingham, 1988, no.31
Bibliography
Mayne, 1949, p.106; Girtin and Loshak, 1954, p.83
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
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About this Work
There is some uncertainty about both the date of this watercolour and its relationship with a pencil drawing of the same composition that Girtin almost certainly made on his first independent tour, to the northern counties and the Scottish Borders in 1796 (TG1093). Thomas Girtin (1874–1960) and David Loshak believed that the artist revisited Warkworth in 1800 and that the subject of the 1796 outline was ‘re-sketched and coloured on the spot’, arguing that it was one of five drawings all made from life in 1800 that were later sold from the collection of Sir James Knowles (1831–1908) (Girtin and Loshak, 1954, p.182). Aside from the fact that there is no other evidence to suggest that Girtin returned to Warkworth, the theory adds an unnecessary complicating factor into the story of Girtin’s touring activities, which generally seem to have been much less extensive than earlier writers on the artist claimed. In this case, it would have been particularly uncharacteristic of Girtin to return to a subject for which he already had a perfectly usable sketch, which, according to Girtin and Loshak, provided the basis for a large studio watercolour they date to 1798 (TG1711). The conclusion that this Warkworth view was not sketched on the spot in 1800 does not, in itself, establish the status of the watercolour, though it does narrow it down to two possibilities. Namely, either the work was coloured on the spot, but in 1796, and was thus the source for the finished studio watercolour that I date to 1800–1801, or (and this is the view that I favour) it dates from later and is actually an unfinished version of the same composition, in which case it was indeed based on the earlier pencil drawing. Such are the uncertain, shifting boundaries between Girtin’s work in the field and his studio work that I would be perfectly happy to be persuaded to adopt the former option. However, the fact that this work is on the same scale as numerous finished studio works of 1799–1800, and much larger therefore than the on-the-spot colour sketches, currently tips the balance in the direction of it being an unfinished composition that was abandoned for some reason.
It is not surprising that Girtin sought to make more than one version of this composition since the view he adopted for his on-the-spot pencil sketch was well calculated to display the defensive might of Warkworth Castle. Looking up from the banks of the river Coquet, the late fourteenth-century Great Tower rises up, leading to the Hall Range and the distinctive minaret-like form of the remains of the Little Stair Tower, with the river acting as a natural moat.
(?) 1796
Warkworth Castle, from the River Coquet
TG1093
1800 - 1801
Warkworth Castle, from the River Coquet
TG1711