- Description
-
- Creator(s)
- Thomas Girtin (1775-1802)
- Title
-
- A Farmyard with Barns, Ladder and Figures; A Sky Study
- Date
- 1800
- Medium and Support
- Graphite, watercolour, bodycolour and pen and ink on laid paper
- Dimensions
- 23 × 28.9 cm, 9 × 11 ¼ in
- Inscription
‘Girtin 1800’ lower left, by Thomas Girtin
- Object Type
- Studio Watercolour
- Subject Terms
- Picturesque Vernacular; Rural Labour
-
- Collection
- Catalogue Number
- TG1658a
- Girtin & Loshak Number
- 408 as 'The Barn'
- Description Source(s)
- Viewed in 2001 and 2002
Provenance
Sir Edward Marsh (1872–1953); William Wycliffe Spooner (1882–1967); bequeathed to the Gallery, 1967
Exhibition History
London, 1968b, no.51; Bath, 1969, no.35; Rye, 1971, no catalogue; Bristol, 1973, no.30; London, 1974b, no.33; Manchester, 1975, no.78; Wellington, 1976, no.34; London, 1979, no.40; London, 1983a, no.90; New York, 1986, no.95; London, 2002, no.142: London, 2005, no.53
Other entries in Late Watercolours:
Samuel William Reynolds and Painting for the Art Market
An Imaginary City, with Antique Buildings
Rhode Island School of Design Museum, Providence
Ancient Ruins, with an Obelisk
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
Ancient Ruins, with a Gothic Church
National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh
A Classical Composition, with a Church and Column
Walker Art Gallery, National Museums Liverpool
The Arch of Janus, Rome
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
The Temple of Clitumnus
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
Rome: The Temple of Antoninus and Faustina
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
Rome: The Temple of Saturn, with the Arch of Septimius Severus
Private Collection
A Town on an Estuary
Rhode Island School of Design Museum, Providence
A Lagoon Capriccio
Birmingham Museums & Art Gallery
An Unidentified Coastal Landscape with a Windmill
Lady Lever Art Gallery, Port Sunlight
Barnard Castle, from the River Tees
Bowes Museum, Barnard Castle
A Farmhouse, Said to Be near Newcastle-upon-Tyne
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
An Exterior View of the Ruins of Lindisfarne Priory Church
Lindisfarne Priory, Northumberland (English Heritage)
Kelso Abbey: The West Front
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester
Jedburgh Abbey, from the Riverbank
The Higgins, Bedford
On the River Medway, with a Boatyard, Beached Vessels and Hulks
Private Collection
Bisham Abbey, on the River Thames
Private Collection
A Classical Composition, with Figures Admiring the Sculptures
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester
An Unidentified Ruin next to a Bridge over a Stream, Said to Be Furness Abbey
Touchstones Rochdale
The Gatehouse of Morpeth Castle
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
Buildings on the River Nidd, near Knaresborough
British Museum, London
Kirkstall Abbey, from Kirkstall Hill
British Museum, London
Kirkstall Abbey, from Kirkstall Bridge, Morning
Victoria and Albert Museum, London
Kirkstall Abbey, from the Canal, Evening
Private Collection
A Distant View of Kirkstall Abbey
Williamson Art Gallery & Museum, Birkenhead
An Unidentified Scene, Formerly Known as ‘Kirkstall Village’
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
Wetherby Bridge and Mills, Looking across the Weir
The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
Wetherby: Looking through the Bridge to the Mills
British Museum, London
Wetherby: Looking through the Bridge to the Mills
Leeds Art Gallery
Kirk Deighton, near Wetherby
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester
York: The New Walk on the Banks of the River Ouse
Victoria and Albert Museum, London
York: The Layerthorpe Bridge and Postern
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester
York: The Layerthorpe Bridge and Postern
Private Collection
York Minster from the South East, Layerthorpe Bridge and Postern to the Right
Private Collection
A Farmyard with Barns, Ladder and Figures; A Sky Study
Courtauld Gallery, London
Ripon Minster, with Skellgate Bridge
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
Ripon Minster, with Skellgate Bridge
Leeds Art Gallery
Ripon Minster, with Skellgate Bridge
Blackburn Museum and Art Gallery
A Distant View of Ripon Minster, from the River Skell
Private Collection
Ripon Minster, from the South East
National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh
Ripon Minster, from the South West
Private Collection
The Abbey Mill, near Knaresborough
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
A Mountain Stream in Spate, Possibly the River Wharfe
Private Collection
Bolton Abbey: The East End of the Priory Church from across the River Wharfe
Eton College, Windsor
Bolton Abbey: The East End of the Priory Church, from across the River Wharfe
National Museum of Wales, Cardiff
Bolton Abbey: The East End of the Priory Church, from across the River Wharfe
Leeds Art Gallery
Bolton Abbey, from the River Wharfe
Private Collection
Bolton Abbey, from the River Wharfe
Private Collection
The Banks of the River Wharfe, with Bolton Abbey in the Distance
Private Collection
Stepping Stones on the River Wharfe, near Bolton Abbey
National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh
Stepping Stones on the River Wharfe, near Bolton Abbey
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Storiths Heights, near Bolton Abbey, from the River Wharfe
Fitzwilliam Museum, University of Cambridge
Richmond Castle, from the River Swale
Leeds Art Gallery
A Farmhouse in Malhamdale, Known as 'Kirkby Priory, near Malham'
British Museum, London
An Ancient Oak, Said to Be on the River Ure
Private Collection
Cottages at Hawes, from Gayle Beck
Birmingham Museums & Art Gallery
Cottages at Hawes, from Gayle Beck
Private Collection, Norfolk
Cottages at Hawes, from Gayle Beck
Private Collection
Cottages at Hawes, from Gayle Beck
Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
Guisborough Priory: The Ruined East End
Tate, London
A Distant View of Guisborough Priory; The Tithe Barn, Abbotsbury
Private Collection, Norfolk
A Distant View of Guisborough Priory
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
A Distant View of Guisborough Priory
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
A Farmhouse, Said to Be near Newcastle-upon-Tyne
Private Collection
A Farmhouse, Said to Be near Newcastle-upon-Tyne
Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle-upon-Tyne
Kelso Abbey, from the River Tweed
Private Collection
Warkworth Castle, from the River Coquet
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
An Upland Landscape, Said to Show Etal Castle
Victoria and Albert Museum, London
The River Tweed at Kelso, Looking Upstream
Courtauld Gallery, London
The Eildon Hills, from the River Tweed
Fitzwilliam Museum, University of Cambridge
A Distant View of Dryburgh Abbey, with the Eildon Hills Beyond
Private Collection
The Valley of the Tweed, with Melrose Abbey in the Distance
Private Collection
Jedburgh Abbey, from Jed Water
Fitzwilliam Museum, University of Cambridge
Jedburgh Abbey, from the South East
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
The Village of Jedburgh
National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh
Southampton: The South Gate and Old Gaol
Private Collection
Bristol Harbour, with St Mary Redcliffe in the Distance
Bristol Museum & Art Gallery
A Wharf with Shipping, Possibly at Bristol
Art Institute of Chicago
A Rainbow over the River Exe
National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin
A Rainbow over the River Exe
The Huntington Library, Art Museum and Botanical Gardens, San Marino
A Rainbow over the River Exe
Graves Gallery, Sheffield
Lydford Castle, from the River Lyd
Clark Art Institute, Williamstown
St Vincent’s Rocks and the Avon Gorge
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester
On the River Taw, North Devon, Looking from Braunton Marsh towards Instow and Appledore
National Gallery of Art, Washington
Conwy Castle, from the River Gyffin
Private Collection, Norfolk
Chelsea Reach, Looking towards Battersea (The White House, Chelsea)
Tate, London
Chelsea Reach, Looking towards Battersea
Private Collection, Norfolk
A Panoramic Landscape, with Figures Trawling a Pond
Private Collection
Landscape with a Distant Ridge, Possibly Hampstead Heath
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
An Inn Yard, Edgware Road, Paddington
British Museum, London
The Thames from a Window of the Old Toy Inn, Hampton Court
British Museum, London
The Old Cottage, Widmore, near Bromley
British Museum, London
Shipping on the River Medway
Museum of New Zealand, Wellington
A Farmyard with Cattle, Poultry and Labourers Unloading Hay, Possibly Pinkney's Farm, Wimbish
Art Institute of Chicago
Farmhouse and Outbuildings, Possibly in Essex
Aberdeen Art Gallery
An Unidentified Village Street with a Church Tower in the Distance
British Museum, London
A Panoramic Landscape, Possibly Showing Primrose Hill, London
Private Collection
Unidentified Landscape with a Distant Rain Shower
National Museum of Wales, Cardiff
Warkworth Church, with the Bridge Beyond
Victoria and Albert Museum, London
An Italianate Landscape with Two Monks
Private Collection
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About this Work
This view of a dilapidated cottage, possibly a farm, in a woodland setting, is one of only a handful of later watercolours by Girtin that revisit the sort of overtly picturesque subjects that the artist often explored around 1798 (such as TG1429). Perhaps inspired by the example of John Thomas Smith (1766–1833), whose portraits of run-down vernacular buildings in the vicinity of London were published in 1797 (see TG1431 figure 2), Girtin produced a series of watercolours, only some of which appear to have been based on actual buildings. The rest, as here, were presumably assembled from stock components of the picturesque, all compressed into the ‘very confined, and … narrow space’ recommended by the Landscape Magazine for ‘simple’ rural scenes. As the author Charles Taylor (1756–1823) continued, ‘almost ruined buildings, whose tottering walls, and falling roofs, produce a variegated richness in a Painter’s eye’, even though ‘they may speak poverty to the owner’ (Taylor, 1793, pp.2 and 67). It was possibly with this moral dilemma in mind that Girtin ensured that the figures (who are engaged in labours suited to the woodland setting) are idealised, and the artist made no attempt to disguise the fact that they did not originate in a study of the British peasantry. The female figure, who carries a bundle of sticks on her head, is thus clearly derived from one of the prints after the work of the Italian artist Marco Ricci (1676–1730) that Girtin copied on a number of occasions (see TG1723 figure 2), and she reappears in other watercolours, including The Old Cottage, Widmore (TG1749), where she again carries her burden with the effortless grace of an antique sculpture. The bending male figure, who strips bark from a fallen bough, is taken from another print after Ricci (see source image TG0882), which shows figures investigating ancient ruins, and the motif of the ladder is inspired by an etching from the same source (see source image TG0881).
Both figures are also included in A Sheet of Figure Studies (TG1899), which appears to have been created at a later date, copied from various works to provide models for use in the artist’s watercolours. Given the degree of repetition and borrowing involved, the figures actually contribute to a surprisingly original and cogent thematic, whereby a semi-ruined wood and thatched structure is seen to be reverting back to the materials from which it was made. Thus, it is impossible to make out any clear distinction between the ramshackle structure and the dead tree in the foreground, whilst the figures labour to convert nature’s waste products into something useful to complete the cycle. As Christiana Payne has noted, the image of the woodland cottage was a key picturesque motif in the 1790s, where such figures could stand for the last vestiges of a commons culture where the unenclosed land might still offer a living to an industrious, and free, peasantry (Payne, 2017, pp.54–58).
On a technical note, the paper historian Peter Bower has identified the support used by Girtin as an off-white laid paper by an unknown manufacturer, possibly French (Smith, 2002b, p.181; Bower, Report). On the back of the paper there is a slight sky study, and, given that this is on Girtin’s favoured wireside (where the surface is impressed with the lines of the mould used in its manufacture), it was presumably produced first before being abandoned, with the artist turning the paper over to produce this watercolour. Another example of Girtin reusing a sheet of paper in this way is TG1699, where he abandoned a version of The Tithe Barn, Abbotsbury and worked up a distant view of Guisborough Priory instead. The watercolour is generally in good condition, though one of the green tones must have been mixed from fugitive pigments, and some of the vegetation has deteriorated to a brown earth tone as a result.
1798 - 1799
A Farmhouse in a Woodland Setting, Said to Be in Devon
TG1429
1800 - 1801
The Old Cottage, Widmore, near Bromley
TG1749
1800 - 1801
Ancient Ruins, with a Gothic Church
TG0882
1800 - 1801
Ancient Ruins, with an Obelisk
TG0881
1801 - 1802
A Sheet of Figure Studies
TG1899
1800 - 1801
A Distant View of Guisborough Priory; The Tithe Barn, Abbotsbury
TG1699