- Description
-
- Creator(s)
- Thomas Girtin (1775-1802) after Edward Dayes (1763-1804)
- Title
-
- Rochester Cathedral and Castle, from the North East
- Date
- 1792 - 1793
- Medium and Support
- Graphite, watercolour and pen and ink on wove paper
- Dimensions
- 37.3 × 48.2 cm, 14 ⅝ × 19 in
- Subject Terms
- Castle Ruins; Dover and Kent; Gothic Architecture: Cathedral View
-
- Collection
- Versions
-
Rochester Cathedral, from the North East, with the Castle Beyond
(TG0363)
- Catalogue Number
- TG0076
- Description Source(s)
- Viewed in 2001 and 2002
Provenance
Spink & Son Ltd, London, 1962; Martin Whiteley (1930–84); bequeathed to the College, 1984
Exhibition History
London, 2002, no.26
Bibliography
Salé, 2020, p.139
Place depicted
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Footnotes
- 1 British Library, London (Add Ms 34,115 f.7)
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About this Work
This view, taken from a paddock to the north east of Rochester Cathedral, also includes the eleventh-century castle keep and, to the right, the tower of St Nicholas’ Church. In addition to this watercolour, Girtin produced three different views of Rochester subjects during the period of his apprenticeship to Edward Dayes (1763–1804), all from compositions by his master (TG0057, TG0071 and TG0015). And, as might have been predicted, the prototype for the composition has subsequent to the online publication of this catalogue been identified in the form of a newly catalogued on-the-spot colour sketch signed by Dayes and dated 1791 (see TG0363 figure 1).1 Certainly, the young Girtin would not have been able to travel to Rochester as a fifteen-year-old apprentice, and, whilst he may have had access to the sketches of amateur artists such as James Moore (1762–99), the more sophisticated nature of the composition here again strongly suggests Dayes as the origin. Indeed, Girtin seems to have enjoyed the challenge posed by the complex arrangement of the main buildings, which are shown tightly grouped on a diagonal and from much closer to, and he repeated the composition three or four years later in a small watercolour for his new patron, Dr Thomas Monro (1759–1833) (TG0363). From a typical Dayesian darkened foreground, the composition concentrates on the architectural subject, and, taking his cue from the broken sky, the young Girtin developed a complex play of light and shade across the buildings. The unusually close viewpoint also encouraged the artist to make a more extensive use of a broken and open pen-and-ink outline to render the different textures of the stonework across the buildings, as well as depict the details of the architectural features that are not apparent in the other more distant views.
Dayes thought enough of his apprentice’s work to send two of his Rochester views to an auction at Greenwood’s in January 1792 (Exhibitions: Greenwood, 25 January 1792, lots 69 and 72), and it is extraordinary to think that even at this early stage in his career the master sensed a commercial opportunity in Girtin’s work. One of these views was probably Rochester Castle, from the River Medway (TG0057). Although this too is undated, it feels later and thus comparable stylistically to the slightly more mature group of early commissions that were sold together in 1921, including views of Hereford Cathedral (TG0166), Warwick Castle (TG0168) and Chepstow Castle (TG0170). A date for all of these watercolours of 1792–93, compared to the 1791–92 dating of the works sent to auction by Dayes, suggests that although Girtin may have left his master’s studio, he still had access to his sketches and that, as in this case, he continued to make use of them to produce works on commission for a time after.
(?) 1791
Rochester Castle, from the River Medway
TG0057
1791 - 1792
Rochester, from the North
TG0071
1791
Rochester, from the River Medway
TG0015
1795 - 1796
Rochester Cathedral, from the North East, with the Castle Beyond
TG0363
1795 - 1796
Rochester Cathedral, from the North East, with the Castle Beyond
TG0363
(?) 1791
Rochester Castle, from the River Medway
TG0057
1792 - 1793
A Distant View of Hereford Cathedral
TG0166
1792 - 1793
The Gatehouse and Barbican, Warwick Castle
TG0168
1792 - 1793
Chepstow Castle, from the River Wye
TG0170