- Description
-
- Creator(s)
- Thomas Girtin (1775-1802)
- Title
-
- Richmond Castle and Bridge, from the River Swale
- Date
- 1796 - 1797
- Medium and Support
- Graphite and watercolour on laid paper
- Dimensions
- 27.1 × 40.2 cm, 10 ⅝ × 15 ¾ in
- Inscription
‘Girtin’ lower right, by Thomas Girtin
- Part of
- Object Type
- Studio Watercolour
- Subject Terms
- Castle Ruins; River Scenery; Yorkshire View
-
- Collection
- Versions
-
Richmond Castle and Bridge, from the River Swale
(TG1063)
- Catalogue Number
- TG1064
- Girtin & Loshak Number
- 252ii as 'Richmond Castle'; '1798'
- Description Source(s)
- Viewed in 2001
Provenance
Samuel William Reynolds (1773–1835); his posthumous sale, possibly Christie's, 18 April 1836, lot 179; bought by 'Monro', 17s; ... bought from the untraced sale of 'Mr Smart' by J. Palser & Sons, £15 (stock no.13743); bought by Robert Nesham (1846–1928), 4 February 1891, £40; his sale, Christie's, 30 July 1924, lot 50; bought by 'Agnew, 115 gns; Thos. Agnew & Sons (stock no.554); Sir Charles Sydney Jones (1872–1947); bequeathed to Liverpool University, 1947
Exhibition History
Agnew’s, 1925, no.7; Agnew’s, 1931, no.127; Agnew’s, 1953a, no.81; Liverpool, 1977, no.34
Bibliography
Hardie, 1934, p.14
Place depicted
Other entries in The 1796 Northern Tour to Yorkshire, the North East and the Scottish Borders:
Sketches and Subsequent Watercolours
Bamburgh Castle, from the South
Cragside House, Northumberland (National Trust)
Durham Cathedral, from the South West
British Museum, London
The Ouse Bridge, York, from the North Shore
British Museum, London
The Ouse Bridge, York, from Skeldergate Postern
York Art Gallery
York: The New Walk on the Banks of the Ouse
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
York Minster, from the South West
Private Collection
York Minster, from the South West
Private Collection
York Minster, from the Ouse, with St Mary’s Abbey
Harewood House, Yorkshire
The South Side of York Minster, Showing the Transept and the Western Towers
Private Collection, Yorkshire
York Minster, from the South East, Layerthorpe Bridge and Postern to the Right
British Museum, London
Unidentified Gothic Ruins, Said to Be St Mary’s Abbey, York
Birmingham Museums & Art Gallery
A Distant View of Ripon Minster, from the River Skell
Private Collection
A Distant View of Ripon Minster, from the River Skell
Harewood House, Yorkshire
A Distant View of Rievaulx Abbey
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
Easby Abbey, from the River Swale
Private Collection
Easby Abbey, from the River Swale
Manchester Art Gallery
Easby Abbey, from the River Swale
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
The Bridge at Warkworth, with the Church Beyond
Victoria and Albert Museum, London
Richmond, Yorkshire: The Seventeenth-Century House Known as St Nicholas
British Museum, London
Richmond Castle and Bridge, from the River Swale
The Huntington Library, Art Museum and Botanical Gardens, San Marino
Richmond Castle and Bridge, from the River Swale
Victoria Gallery and Museum, University of Liverpool
Richmond Castle and Town, from the South East
Private Collection
Barnard Castle, from the River Tees
British Museum, London
Egglestone Abbey, from the River Tees
Gallery Oldham
Egglestone Abbey, on the River Tees
British Museum, London
Durham Cathedral and Castle, from the River Wear
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Durham Cathedral and Castle, from the River Wear
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester
Durham Cathedral and Castle, from the River Wear
J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles
Durham Castle and Cathedral, from below the Weir
Private Collection, Norfolk
Durham Castle and Cathedral, from below the Weir
Victoria and Albert Museum, London
Durham Castle and Cathedral, from below the Weir; Dryburgh Abbey with the Eildon Hills Beyond
Birmingham Museums & Art Gallery
Durham Cathedral, from the South West
Private Collection
St Nicholas’ Church, Newcastle-upon-Tyne
Private Collection
Tynemouth Priory, from the Coast
Cleveland Museum of Art
Bothal Castle, from the River Wansbeck
Private Collection
A River Scene with a Tower, Said to Be the Tyne near Hexham
Leeds Art Gallery
Warkworth Castle, from the River Coquet
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
Warkworth Castle, from the River Coquet
Private Collection, Norfolk
The Bridge at Warkworth, with the Castle Beyond
Untraced Works
Dunstanburgh Castle, Viewed from a Distance
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
Dunstanburgh Castle: The Lilburn Tower
Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle-upon-Tyne
Lindisfarne: An Interior View of the Ruins of the Priory Church
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester
Lindisfarne: An Interior View of the Ruins of the Priory Church
Fitzwilliam Museum, University of Cambridge
An Interior View of the Ruins of Lindisfarne Priory Church
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
Lindisfarne: The Nave and Crossing of the Priory Church
British Museum, London
An Exterior View of the Ruins of Lindisfarne Priory Church
Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
An Exterior View of the Ruins of Lindisfarne Priory Church
Private Collection
York Minster, from the South East, Layerthorpe Bridge and Postern to the Right
Victoria and Albert Museum, London
Dryburgh Abbey: The South Transept Looking North
Private Collection
Dryburgh Abbey: The South Transept from the Cloister
Private Collection
Melrose Abbey: The Ruined Presbytery and the East Window
Clark Art Institute, Williamstown
Melrose Abbey: The Ruined Presbytery and the East Window
Cooper Gallery, Barnsley
Melrose Abbey, from the North East
The Morgan Library & Museum, New York
Jedburgh Abbey, from the North East
Private Collection
Jedburgh Abbey, from Jed Water
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
The Village of Jedburgh, with the Abbey Ruins
British Museum, London
The Village of Jedburgh, with the Abbey Ruins
Private Collection, Bedfordshire
The West Front of Jedburgh Abbey
British Museum, London
Jedburgh Abbey, from the South East
Blickling Hall, Norfolk (National Trust)
The Ruins of the Lady Chapel, near Bothal
Rhode Island School of Design Museum, Providence
Bamburgh Castle, from the Village
Guy Peppiatt Fine Art Ltd
St Nicholas’ Church, Newcastle-upon-Tyne
Victoria Gallery and Museum, University of Liverpool
Richmond, Yorkshire: The Seventeenth-Century House Known as St Nicholas
Private Collection
An Interior View of Fountains Abbey: The East Window from the Presbytery
Graves Gallery, Sheffield
St Mary’s, Old Malton, on the River Derwent
Untraced Works
York: Pavement, Looking towards All Saints
Private Collection
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About this Work
This view of Richmond Castle in Yorkshire, seen from the south bank of the river Swale looking north east, is based on a partially coloured sketch that was almost certainly made in 1796 on Girtin’s first independent sketching tour (TG1063). Girtin’s viewpoint on the banks of the river Swale was calculated to display the dramatic location of Richmond Castle, with the great Norman keep to the left and the east curtain wall leading to the Great Hall to the right. In the foreground, crossing the river in three elegant arches, is the Green Bridge designed by John Carr (1723–1807) of York and only recently completed (1789) at the time of Girtin’s visit. Were it not known that the watercolour was based on a drawing from the 1796 tour, we may have been able to infer as much from its similarity to the view of Durham Cathedral and Castle (TG1075), which employs a similar composition with the same elements of river, bridge and castle on a hill arranged in much the same way. And again, as with the Durham view, Girtin’s contemporary Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775–1851) seems to have been inspired by the example of Girtin, his collaborator at the home of Dr Thomas Monro (1759–1833); thus, he adopted almost exactly the same viewpoint when sketching on his visit to Richmond in 1797 (see figure 1). As David Hill has noted, this is one of as many as ten examples of where Turner’s 1797 sketches seem to have stemmed from a knowledge of Girtin’s earlier on-the-spot studies (Hill, 1996, pp.4–5, 40 and 199).
The watercolour has suffered a degree of fading, particularly in the middle ground, where areas of the washes of colour and the pencil work appear quite ponderous and earth tones have become too dominant. There is no doubt about the attribution to Girtin, though, not least because of the prominent and clearly genuine signature on the rock in the river. As for the date of the work, we are helped here by the relatively good condition of the sky, which, in contrast to many later works, such as Morpeth Bridge (TG1708), has not faded to a brick-red colour as a consequence of the use of the fugitive pigment indigo. There is no reason, therefore, not to think that this work was produced soon after the artist’s return from the north in 1796, and it may have been produced on commission, one of the works that helped to cover the costs of Girtin’s trip. Certainly, the fact that the work was reproduced as a mezzotint by Samuel William Reynolds (1773–1835) (see the print after, above, Neill & Son, 1883) does not mean that it was produced specifically for engraving, though its smaller size might initially suggest that. Incidentally, this may well be one of those occasions where the print, with its dramatic contrasts of light and shade, gives a good impression of the work’s original, pre-faded condition.
(?) 1796
Richmond Castle and Bridge, from the River Swale
TG1063
1796 - 1797
Durham Cathedral and Castle, from the River Wear
TG1075
1800 - 1801
Morpeth Bridge
TG1708