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Works Thomas Girtin after Unknown Artist, (?) Thomas Jefferys

Henry VIII in 1520

1790 - 1791

Primary Image: TG0051: Thomas Girtin (1775–1802), after an Unknown Artist (?) Thomas Jefferys (1719–71), Henry VIII in 1520, 1790–91, graphite on wove paper, 10.8 × 7.7 cm, 4 ¼ × 3 in. Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection (B1975.3.1154).

Photo courtesy of Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection (Public Domain)

Artist's source: Unknown Artist, etching, hand-coloured, 'Habit of King Henry VIII in 1520' for Thomas Jefferys, A Collection of the Dresses of Different Nations, vol.2, pl.195, 1757–72, 22.3 × 19.6 cm, 8 ¾ × 7 ¾ in. Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection Library.

Photo courtesy of Yale Center for British Art (Public Domain)

Description
Creator(s)
Thomas Girtin (1775-1802) after Unknown Artist, (?) Thomas Jefferys (1719-1771)
Title
  • Henry VIII in 1520
Date
1790 - 1791
Medium and Support
Graphite on wove paper
Dimensions
10.8 × 7.7 cm, 4 ¼ × 3 in
Object Type
Outline Drawing; Work from a Known Source: Contemporary British
Subject Terms
Figure Study

Collection
Catalogue Number
TG0051
Girtin & Loshak Number
80f as '1793–5'
Description Source(s)
Viewed in 2001

Provenance

Thomas Calvert Girtin (1801–74); then by descent to Thomas Girtin (1874–1960); given to Tom Girtin (1913–94), c.1938; bought by John Baskett on behalf of Paul Mellon (1907–99), 1970; presented to the Center, 1975

Exhibition History

New Haven, 1986a, no.16

About this Work

Henry VIII in 1520 is one six costume studies that the young Girtin copied from Thomas Jefferys’ four-volume Collection of the Dresses of Different Nations, Antient and Modern (see the source image above), which was published between 1757 and 1772 (TG0046, TG0047, TG0048, TG0049 and TG0050). The images in Jefferys’ volumes were made after ‘the Designs of Holbein, Vandyke, Hollar, and Others’, according to its subtitle, and were a popular source for history painters seeking accurate costumes for their compositions (Jefferys, 1757–72). Thomas Girtin (1874–1960) and David Loshak dated the six drawings to 1793–95 (Girtin and Loshak, 1954, p.144), but the hard, inflexible outlines and the crude handling of the monochrome washes suggest an earlier date, at a time when Girtin was still an apprentice to Edward Dayes (1763–1804). They would therefore have been set as copying exercises by a teacher who wanted to pass on his ambitions as a history painter to his apprentice. That said, Jefferys’ volumes are not listed in a catalogue of books in Dayes’ possession in 1800, but they may have been available to the young Girtin in the form of single sheets (Lightbown, 1971, appendix).

None of the costume studies are signed and the pencil work does not display any of the characteristic elements of the artist’s drawing style, which, in any case, was based on the need to record landscape and architectural details. The attribution of the drawings is therefore dependent on their provenance and the family tradition that they came from Girtin’s studio after his death and thereafter passed on by descent. Thomas Calvert Girtin (1801–74) did inherit a number of works by his father, but he also bought others, some of which have proved not to be by Girtin (such as TG1271), so it is surely right to add a note of caution in this case too. However, Girtin’s later figure studies also deploy a quite different graphic language to his landscape drawings (TG1515) and, on balance, the attribution of this and the other five costume studies remains tenable.

1790 - 1791

A French Lady of Quality in 1581

TG0046

1790 - 1791

Edward VI in 1550

TG0047

1790 - 1791

A Noble Virgin of Bologna in 1581

TG0048

1790 - 1791

A Persian Lady in 1568

TG0049

1790 - 1791

An English Nobleman in 1559

TG0050

1798 - 1803

Berry Pomeroy Castle

TG1271

1794 - 1795

A Study of a Young Girl

TG1515

by Greg Smith

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