- Description
-
- Creator(s)
- Thomas Girtin (1775-1802)
- Title
-
- A Torrent by a Clump of Trees
- Date
- 1800 - 1801
- Medium and Support
- Graphite and watercolour on paper
- Dimensions
- 15.6 × 12.9 cm, 6 ⅛ × 5 in
- Object Type
- Colour Sketch: Studio Work
- Subject Terms
- Trees and Woods; Unidentified Landscape; Waterfall Scenery
-
- Catalogue Number
- TG1770
- Description Source(s)
- Museum Website
Provenance
Sotheby's, 24 November 1965, lot 47; bought by 'Colnaghi', £100; P & D Colnaghi & Co.; Sotheby’s, 18 June 1970, lot 135; bought by 'Birch', £190; Garrick Fine Arts, Philadelphia; Sotheby’s, 12 April 1995, lot 59, unsold; Thos. Agnew & Sons; bought by George and Patti White; lent to Harvard Art Museums, 2023
Exhibition History
Agnew’s, 1996, no.21
Other entries in Later Sketches:
Taken on the Spot and Worked in the Studio
Mountain Scenery, Said to Be near Beddgelert (page 15, reverse, of the Whitworth Book of Drawings)
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester
The Valley of the Glaslyn, near Beddgelert (page 15 of the Whitworth Book of Drawings)
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester
Trees in a Glade Overlooking a Lake
Private Collection
Middleham Village, with the Castle Beyond
Victoria and Albert Museum, London
An Extensive Landscape with the Ruins of Mitford Castle
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
Plumpton Rocks, near Knaresborough
Private Collection
A Parkland Landscape with Cattle and Sheep
Private Collection
John Raphael Smith: 'Waiting for the Mail Coach' (mounted on page 1 of the Whitworth Book of Drawings)
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester
Chelsea Reach, Looking towards Battersea (page 11 of the Whitworth Book of Drawings)
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester
The Stables, Plompton Park (page 17 of the Whitworth Book of Drawings)
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester
Harewood House, from the South West (page 18 of the Whitworth Book of Drawings)
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester
Grimbald Bridge, near Knaresborough (page 20 of the Whitworth Book of Drawings)
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester
The Abbey Mill, near Knaresborough (page 25 of the Whitworth Book of Drawings)
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester
A Farmhouse in Malhamdale, Known as 'Kirkby Priory, near Malham' (page 26 of the Whitworth Book of Drawings)
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester
Sandsend (page 29 of the Whitworth Book of Drawings)
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester
Grimbald Crag, near Knaresborough (page 30 of the Whitworth Book of Drawings)
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester
A Crag on the River Nidd (page 31 of the Whitworth Book of Drawings)
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester
Guisborough Priory: The Ruined East End (page 33 of the Whitworth Book of Drawings)
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester
Stepping Stones on the River Wharfe
British Museum, London
An Interior View of the Choir of Bolton Priory
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
Bolton Abbey, from the River Wharfe (page 37 of the Whitworth Book of Drawings)
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester
Bolton Abbey: The East End of the Priory Church, from across the River Wharfe (page 38 of the Whitworth Book of Drawings)
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester
The East End of Bolton Priory Church (pages 38–39 of the Whitworth Book of Drawings)
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester
A Distant View of Middleham Castle, with the River Ure in the Foreground (page 41 of the Whitworth Book of Drawings)
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester
Middleham Village, with the Castle Beyond (page 42 of the Whitworth Book of Drawings)
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester
A Village at the Bend of a River, Probably in Yorkshire (page 44 of the Whitworth Book of Drawings)
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester
Beached Vessels at Low Tide (page 46 of the Whitworth Book of Drawings)
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester
Five Craft off the Coast on a Calm Sea (page 47 of the Whitworth Book of Drawings)
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester
Shipping off the Coast on a Calm Sea (page 48 of the Whitworth Book of Drawings)
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester
The Ruins of Old Mulgrave Castle (page 49 of the Whitworth Book of Drawings)
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester
Mulgrave Park and Castle, from near Epsyke Farm
British Museum, London
The River Nidd between Knaresborough and Wetherby
Rhode Island School of Design Museum, Providence
Kirkstall Abbey, with a Canal Barge
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
The River Nidd, between Knaresborough and Wetherby
Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle-upon-Tyne
The Valley of the Tweed, with Melrose Abbey in the Distance
Private Collection
A Clump of Trees by the Waterside
Private Collection
A Torrent by a Clump of Trees
Harvard Art Museums / Fogg Museum, Loan from George and Patti White
A River Valley and a Distant Hill Seen through Trees
Clark Art Institute, Williamstown
A Shady Road Leading to Cottages
British Museum, London
A Church in a Village, Possibly at Radwinter
British Museum, London
A Building with a Tall Chimney, next to a Stream
British Museum, London
Landscape with a Farmhouse and Cottage
Private Collection
A Schooner near the Shore
Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
A Coast Scene with Two Beached Vessels
Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
A Shipping Study: Five Craft on a Calm Sea
British Museum, London
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About this Work
This is one of two upright colour studies of the same small dimensions showing a clump of trees that appear to date from the same time, perhaps around 1800, the other being A Wooded Landscape (TG1771). In subjects such as this, in which there are no identifiable topographical features, dating Girtin’s sketches inevitably involves an element of guesswork, and there are times when one longs for the sort of specific inscriptions that were part of the practice of many landscape artists at this time. Such an inscription might have been more forthcoming if the watercolour had actually been sketched on the spot, but this is far from clear in this case. The work was evidently produced at some speed, and there are areas in which the darker tones used for the foliage look to have been added onto washes that have barely dried, a sign that the artist was seeking to fix a transient effect. However, the manner in which the whole sheet has been worked over to a uniform degree, with the spaces between the foliage carefully filled in with a skyscape, is more redolent of the sketch-like commodities that the artist produced in the studio to satisfy the demand from collectors for less formal examples of his output. And, added to this is the fact that the effect of falling water is by no means effectively captured, and there is little sense that it is the result of the sort of careful observation of nature associated with the empirical tradition of sketching. Signs that a drawing was created in haste to capture a transient effect are easily fabricated in the studio, and I suspect that both this work and Wooded Landscape were created within a more controlled environment than is found out of doors. Such works, I suggest, had a particular appeal to collectors who were amateur artists themselves and who might therefore have appreciated signs of the professional’s struggles. Indeed, the fact that it is not possible to be absolutely sure about the status of a work is presumably the point behind the techniques that Girtin employed in a significant number of small informal landscapes made at this date.
1800 - 1801
A Wooded Landscape
TG1771