- Description
-
- Creator(s)
- (?) Thomas Girtin (1775-1802)
- Title
-
- The Cloisters of Chester Cathedral
- Date
- 1798 - 1799
- Medium and Support
- Sepia on paper
- Dimensions
- 23.5 × 22.9 cm, 9 ¼ × 9 in
- Object Type
- Colour Sketch: Studio Work
- Subject Terms
- Gothic Architecture: Cathedral View
-
- Collection
- Catalogue Number
- TG1349
- Description Source(s)
- Girtin and Loshak, 1954
Provenance
Alfred Aspland (1815-80); his posthumous sale, Capes, Dunn, and Pilcher, Manchester, 1 May 1883, lot 151; bought by Thos. Agnew & Sons (stock no.6990) for 'H. M. Ormerod'
Bibliography
Girtin and Loshak, 1954, p.207
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
Interior View of 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
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About this Work
This view of the cloisters of Chester Cathedral has not been seen in public since it was sold at auction in 1883, and there is therefore no way of confirming its authenticity. The ancient Roman city of Chester, with its fine medieval monuments, was only rarely the subject of topographical prints and watercolours at this date, though it was on one of the main routes to North Wales, a popular destination for tourists and artists alike. It is possible, therefore, that what sounds as though it might have been a monochrome sketch was produced on Girtin’s trip in the summer of 1798. A watercolour titled ‘Chester Cathedral’ was sold at Foster’s in 1858 (Foster’s, 22 January 1858, lot 113). That said, there is another possibility here. In 1800 Dr Thomas Monro (1759–1833) consigned for sale by ’Mr. Christie’ 27 sketches and drawings by Girtin and his collaborator at the patron’s home, Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775–1851). Lot 81, 'The Cloisters of Chester Cathedral’, was attributed to Turner and it seems that the artist himself bought the work for the not inconsiderable price of £3 3s (Christie’s, 20 May 1800). Turner visited Chester in 1794 and there are a number of sketches extant from the trip (Turner Bequest XXI L). Although there are neither studies of the cloisters nor records of Turner’s view subsequent to the 1800 sale, it is still possible that the attribution of the drawing had been changed to Girtin prior to the later sales and that consequently we should see the work as an outcome of Turner’s 1794 visit rather than as evidence of Girtin’s itinerary in 1798.