- Description
-
- Creator(s)
- Thomas Girtin (1775-1802)
- Title
-
- A Lake Surrounded by Trees, Known as 'The Silent Pool'
- Date
- 1798 - 1799
- Medium and Support
- Watercolour on paper
- Dimensions
- 26.7 × 40.6 cm, 10 ½ × 16 in
- Object Type
- Studio Watercolour
- Subject Terms
- Lake Scenery; The Landscape Park; Unidentified Landscape
-
- Collection
- Catalogue Number
- TG1569
- Girtin & Loshak Number
- 327 as '"The Silent Pool"'; '1799'
- Description Source(s)
- Girtin Archive Photograph
Provenance
William George Rawlinson (1840–1928); bought from him by Thos. Agnew & Sons (stock no.9774), 16 June 1920; bought by Sir Stephen Lewis Courtauld (1883–1967), 24 February 1921, £90
Exhibition History
Agnew’s, 1921, no.31 as ’The Silent Pool’; Agnew’s, 1931, no.131
Bibliography
Oppé, 1921, pp.134–35
Other entries in Edward Lascelles and Harewood, Together with Other Houses of the Gentry
The Summer House in the Garden of Samuel Wood at Southgate
Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
Alnwick Castle, from Brizlee
Alnwick Castle, Northumberland
Ships in a Harbour, Possibly at Bristol
Harewood House, Yorkshire
An Estuary Scene, Probably in the West Country
Harewood House, Yorkshire
A Mountain View, near Beddgelert
National Museum of Wales, Cardiff
Unidentified Ruins with a Panoramic View
Walker Art Gallery, National Museums Liverpool
A Circular Temple, Said to Be in Harewood Park
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
A Lake Scene with Cattle, Said to Be in Harewood Park
Private Collection
A Close View of Harewood House, from the South East
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
Harewood House, from the South West
Harewood House, Yorkshire
Harewood House, from the South East
Harewood House, Yorkshire
Buildings on the River Nidd, near Knaresborough
Toledo Museum of Art
Plumpton Rocks, near Knaresborough
Victoria and Albert Museum, London
On the River Wharfe at Bolton Abbey
Victoria and Albert Museum, London
A Reconstruction of the Elizabethan Wing of Moreton Corbet Castle
Private Collection
A Reconstruction of Moreton Corbet Castle, from the West
Private Collection
A Landscape with an Unidentified House
Blackburn Museum and Art Gallery
An Unidentified Small Country House
Dowle Fine Art, London
An Unidentified House in an Open Landscape
Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, Hobart
An Unidentified Small Country House or Lodge
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
The North Front of Chalfont Lodge, Seen from the Lake
Guy Peppiatt Fine Art Ltd
The South Front of Chalfont Lodge, Seen from across the Lawn
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
The South Front of Chalfont Lodge, Seen from across the Lawn
Birmingham Museums & Art Gallery
Chalfont House, from the North East, with Fishermen Netting the Broadwater
Private Collection, Herefordshire
Chalfont House, from the North West
Private Collection, Herefordshire
Melville Castle
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
A Distant View of Arundel Castle, from the South
Arundel Castle, Sussex
A Lake Surrounded by Trees, Known as 'The Silent Pool'
Private Collection
A Lake Scene with Two Herons, Possibly in Cassiobury Park
Birmingham Museums & Art Gallery
The Well House, Ashtead Park, Formerly Known as 'The Sawmill, Cassiobury Park'
Watford Museum
Hatfield House, from the South East
British Museum, London
A House and Garden at Winster in Derbyshire
British Museum, London
A House at Winster
Victoria and Albert Museum, London
An Unidentified Georgian House, Said to Be Lobes Hill in Shropshire
Private Collection
A Distant View of a Castle, Said to Be Lowther in Westmorland
Private Collection
An Ornamental Ruin in a Park; A Tree on a Mound
British Museum, London
A Hilly Landscape with Sheep and Cattle
The Canon Gallery, near Oundle
A Distant View of Knaresborough, from the South East
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester
Guisborough Priory: The Ruined East End
National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh
Jedburgh from the River, with the Abbey Beyond
National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin
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About this Work
This work is known only from an old black and white photograph, and, though it was included in Thomas Girtin (1874–1960) and David Loshak’s catalogue of the artist’s watercolours, it has not been possible to confirm the attribution to Girtin (Girtin and Loshak, 1954, p.178). The watercolour’s traditional description, ‘The Silent Pool’, is typical of the poetic, connotative titles that Girtin’s unidentified views acquired in the early part of the twentieth century, and I have dropped this as it says rather more about that impoverished period of art history than about the artist’s work. In fact, the presence of what appears to be a sluice on the far bank suggests that we are looking at an artificial lake in a landscape park, rather than a pool far from the haunts of humanity. In the absence of any other evidence, it is impossible to say exactly which of the estates where the artist worked this is; however, if the work is indeed by Girtin, it does at least have the appearance of being based on a sketch made on the spot, rather than being imaginary. Indeed, bearing in mind the dense vegetation surrounding the water, a not unreasonable suggestion for the missing location might be Chalfont in Buckinghamshire, the parkland depicted by Girtin in which a dense array of trees features most prominently (TG1561). My thanks to Ian Warrell for suggesting Chalfont as the possible location here.
(?) 1800
The North Front of Chalfont Lodge, Seen from the Lake
TG1561