4 June 1821

Caernarvon Castle, North Wales (see print after TG1309) is engraved and published by William Bernard Cooke (1778–1855) ‘From a Drawing in the Collection of the late H. Edridge’ (TG1309) and dedicated to Amelia Long, Lady Farnborough (1772–1837), ‘a Patroness of the Fine Arts’.

July 1821

Anonymous, The Magazine of the Fine Arts, vol.1 (1821), p.231

Reviewing Caernarvon Castle, North Wales (see print after TG1309)

The Late Mr. Girtin was one of the most promising artists of his time. As his attainments were profound, his execution was decisive, and he knew how to combine the boldest contrasts with breadth and harmony. The present is a good specimen of his talents, transferred to the copper with a masterly freedom quite congenial with the style of the original. The aspiring turrets of Caernarvon are opposed in picturesque groups to a varied sky, which forms a bright back-ground to the sombre masses of the Castle. The effect of water, fishing-boats, &c. in the foreground is bold and true, and produced by a most facile and bold style of execution.

1821

Anonymous, Rigaische Stadt-Blatter fur das Jahr 1821, Riga, 1822, pp.265–67 (1821 – Item 1)

A review is published of a London panorama shown at Riga in 1821. The key that is published to accompany the display certainly shows the same view that Girtin took from a building overlooking Blackfriars Bridge, though, if it was the Eidometropolis that was toured across Germany and the Baltic states as far as St Petersburg in the 1820s, it would have been repainted to include the recently built bridges of Southwark and Waterloo. The tour is organised by Johann Friedrich Tielker (1768–1832), who has, according to newspaper reports, acquired an older canvas painted twenty years ago and looking well worn from its travels. The evidence is not ultimately conclusive, but there is a real possibility that Girtin’s Eidometroplis was not consumed in a fire in France in 1807 after all (thanks to Gabriele Koller for drawing this review to my attention).

Mr Tielker, a good friend and welcome guest, is showing everyone here the panorama of London in a specially constructed building in front of the Sandthor (Sandtor). In front of our eyes lies the colossal commercial and world city with its endless buildings so that one could almost say, like the wood for the trees, you can’t see the city for the houses. But the longer one looks at this painting the more clearly one sees even the distant objects and after a quarter of an hour the eye has ordered the chaos of the buildings and one can now discern every detail. It makes one smile when some viewers leave after a few minutes as the characteristics of the perspective painting demand lingering longer, taking slow steps into the distance. However those who take time and patience viewing this panorama, produced by the artist’s hand, will be duly gratified, and when familiar with the details then go on to take in the overall view will be rewarded with a clear and interesting image. It would be too long winded here to give a description of this painting and its individual parts: each should look at it with their own eyes and enjoy this artistic pleasure, led by the printed key as a guide. St Paul’s Cathedral, the University, Somerset House, Waterloo Bridge, Westminster Abbey and Bridge and, most importantly, Blackfriars Bridge deserve special attention. Here we are shown the hurly burly of London; a series of paintings of life that would take the genius of a Merciers or Lichtenberg to explain; vehicles of every sort, state carriages, hay wagons, mobile bakers shops and public stagecoaches, two-wheeled carts and goods wagons, riders on horse and ass, an insensitive group of brutish boxers and a sensitive group of musicians, the rich with full purses, peasants with empty pockets; both full and empty port wine pipes and porter barrels; speculators with their full cash boxes and failed speculators and their empty money sacks; ministerial wives and opposition men; people and animals, the colourful commotion of life is depicted with diligence and corresponding truthfulness. This part of the panorama is in itself a gallery of Netherlandish art which will speak to both the art connoisseur and lay public alike.

1798 - 1799

The Eagle Tower, Caernarfon Castle

TG1309

1798 - 1799

The Eagle Tower, Caernarfon Castle

TG1309

1798 - 1799

The Eagle Tower, Caernarfon Castle

TG1309