- Description
-
- Creator(s)
- Thomas Girtin (1775-1802)
- Title
-
- Rhuddlan Castle, from the River Clwyd
- Date
- 1799
- Medium and Support
- Watercolour on paper
- Dimensions
- 27.9 × 38.1 cm, 11 × 15 in
- Inscription
‘Girtin 1799’
- Object Type
- Studio Watercolour
- Subject Terms
- Castle Ruins; North Wales; River Scenery
Provenance
Samuel Whitbread (1764–1815); then by descent
Bibliography
Deuchar, 1984, p.79
Place depicted
Other entries in The 1798 Welsh Tour:
Sketches and Subsequent Watercolours
Rhuddlan Castle, from the River Clwyd
Cantor Arts Center, Stanford University
Rhuddlan Castle, from the River Clwyd
Southill Park, Bedfordshire
Rhuddlan Castle, from the River Clwyd
Tate, London
The Eagle Tower, Caernarfon Castle
National Museum of Wales, Cardiff
The Eagle Tower, Caernarfon Castle
Victoria and Albert Museum, London
The Eagle Tower, Caernarfon Castle
Norwich Castle Museum and Art Gallery
The Eagle Tower, Caernarfon Castle
Private Collection, North Wales
Caernarfon: A Street Scene with Plas Mawr
Tate, London
Caernarfon Castle, from the River Seiont
British Museum, London
Caernarfon Castle, from the River Seiont
Williamson Art Gallery & Museum, Birkenhead
The Cain Falls (Pistyll Cain), near Dolgellau
British Museum, London
The Cain Falls (Pistyll Cain), near Dolgellau
Birmingham Museums & Art Gallery
A Mountain View, near Beddgelert
British Museum, London
A Bridge over the Glaslyn, near Beddgelert
British Museum, London
Pont Seiont, Looking Towards Mynydd Mawr (Big Mountain)
British Museum, London
Pont Seiont, Looking Towards Mynydd Mawr (Big Mountain)
Private Collection
Pont y Pair, Betws-y-Coed
Harvard Art Museums / Fogg Museum, Loan from George and Patti White
Llyn Tegid (Bala Lake), Looking towards Cadair Idris
Private Collection
A View of Hills and a River, Probably in North Wales
British Museum, London
Denbigh Castle and the Vale of Clwyd
British Museum, London
An Unidentified Landscape, Possibly the Vale of Clwyd
Valle Crucis Abbey, from the River; Studies of Seated Figures
Private Collection
Valle Crucis Abbey, from the River
Private Collection
Valle Crucis Abbey, from the River
Private Collection
Valle Crucis Abbey, from the River
National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth
Valle Crucis Abbey, from the River
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
Valle Crucis Abbey: From the Cloister Looking Towards the Dormitory
Private Collection
Valle Crucis Abbey: The Chapter House, from the South West
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
A River Scene, Probably the Dee near Corwen
The Huntington Library, Art Museum and Botanical Gardens, San Marino
The Cloisters of Chester Cathedral
Private Collection
The Red Castle, from Hawk Lake, with a Distant View of Shrewsbury
Private Collection
Wroxeter: The Roman Wall
Harvard Art Museums / Fogg Museum, Loan from George and Patti White
The Old Severn Bridge at Bridgnorth
British Museum, London
Hereford Cathedral, from across the River Wye
Private Collection
The Great Hall, Kenilworth Castle
National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa
The Great Hall, Kenilworth Castle
Private Collection
The Great Hall, Kenilworth Castle
Private Collection
An Unidentified Valley, Probably in North Wales
Southill Park, Bedfordshire
Cadair Idris, from the Estuary near Barmouth
Private Collection
Footnotes
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About this Work
This view of the thirteenth-century castle built for Edward I (1239–1307) at Rhuddlan, seen from the river Clwyd, is one of three versions of a composition that resulted from Girtin’s tour of North Wales in 1798. The watercolour, which is dated 1799, may be based on another version of the composition that was possibly coloured on the spot (TG1301), though its poor, faded condition makes this difficult to substantiate. This work too is badly faded so that the dramatic broken sky, which lights up the castle in a characteristic fashion, has all but been lost, whilst the reflections in the water in the foreground lack the subtle patterns that typically anchor Girtin’s compositions. This is a great pity because the artist’s adopted position downriver produced a powerful symmetrical composition of stark simplicity, with the double tower of the castle’s eastern gatehouse aligning vertically with the two arches of the bridge. However, what one modern writer has termed the ‘nakedness of the terrain and the wide sweep of its vacant space’, reminiscent of the ‘sense of romantic solitude’ found in the landscapes of John Robert Cozens (1752–97), may actually have been enhanced by the way the work has effectively been reduced to broad areas of monochrome (Eitner and others, 1993, p.108).
Girtin’s view of Rhuddlan Castle comes from the collection of Samuel Whitbread (1764–1815) and has remained at the family home of Southill Park since. The watercolour was first recorded in an inventory made in 1816, after Whitbread’s death, as one of two ‘Landscapes … in gilt frames Glazed’, though it is unlikely that it, and another watercolour of the same dimensions, An Unidentified Valley, Probably in North Wales (TG1441), was commissioned from Girtin (Bedfordshire Archives (130 Southill)). Instead, it seems that both of the Welsh views owned by Whitbread came via Girtin’s representative, the artist and engraver Samuel William Reynolds (1773–1835), who worked for Whitbread and was the recipient of his support when he was suffering from financial problems. Indeed it was to Whitbread, through an intermediary, that Reynolds outlined in October 1801 the extent of the stock of works by Girtin that he owned, and that he hoped to sell to pay his debts (Reynolds, Letter, 1801).1 The Welsh views owned by Whitbread, at around 28 × 38 cm (11 × 15 in), conform to the ‘smaller size’ that Reynolds valued at ‘£4. 4. each’, and, though not documented, it is likely that they were acquired by the patron in return for underwriting Reynolds’ debts.
(?) 1798
Rhuddlan Castle, from the River Clwyd
TG1301
1798 - 1799
An Unidentified Valley, Probably in North Wales
TG1441