- Description
-
- Creator(s)
- Thomas Girtin (1775-1802)
- Title
-
- Trees in a Park
- Date
- 1800 - 1801
- Medium and Support
- Graphite and watercolour on laid paper
- Dimensions
- 24.4 × 44.1 cm, 9 ⅝ × 17 ⅛ in
- Inscription
‘Girtin’ lower right, by Thomas Girtin
- Object Type
- On-the-spot Colour Sketch
- Subject Terms
- Trees and Woods; Unidentified Landscape
-
- Collection
- Catalogue Number
- TG1588
- Girtin & Loshak Number
- 406 as 'Scene in a Park'; 'c. 1800'
- Description Source(s)
- Viewed in 2001
Provenance
Walter S. Sichel (d.1933); his posthumous sale, Sotheby’s, 25 October 1933, no.120 as 'A Landscape Drawing in Indian ink ... attributed to J. Constable'; bought by Paul Oppé (1878–1957), £2 2s; then by descent; bought by Tate as part of the Oppé Collection with assistance from the National Lottery through the Heritage Lottery Fund, 1996
Exhibition History
Chelsea, 1947, no.26; Sheffield, 1952, no.35; London, 1958a, no.154; Ottawa, 1961, no.46; London, 1997, no.77
Bibliography
Oppé, 1957–59, p.97, no.2031
Other entries in Later Sketches:
Taken on the Spot and Worked in the Studio
Mountain Scenery, Said to Be near Beddgelert (page 15, reverse, of the Whitworth Book of Drawings)
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester
The Valley of the Glaslyn, near Beddgelert (page 15 of the Whitworth Book of Drawings)
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester
Trees in a Glade Overlooking a Lake
Private Collection
Middleham Village, with the Castle Beyond
Victoria and Albert Museum, London
An Extensive Landscape with the Ruins of Mitford Castle
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
Plumpton Rocks, near Knaresborough
Private Collection
A Parkland Landscape with Cattle and Sheep
Private Collection
John Raphael Smith: 'Waiting for the Mail Coach' (mounted on page 1 of the Whitworth Book of Drawings)
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester
Chelsea Reach, Looking towards Battersea (page 11 of the Whitworth Book of Drawings)
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester
The Stables, Plompton Park (page 17 of the Whitworth Book of Drawings)
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester
Harewood House, from the South West (page 18 of the Whitworth Book of Drawings)
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester
Grimbald Bridge, near Knaresborough (page 20 of the Whitworth Book of Drawings)
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester
The Abbey Mill, near Knaresborough (page 25 of the Whitworth Book of Drawings)
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester
A Farmhouse in Malhamdale, Known as 'Kirkby Priory, near Malham' (page 26 of the Whitworth Book of Drawings)
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester
Sandsend (page 29 of the Whitworth Book of Drawings)
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester
Grimbald Crag, near Knaresborough (page 30 of the Whitworth Book of Drawings)
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester
A Crag on the River Nidd (page 31 of the Whitworth Book of Drawings)
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester
Guisborough Priory: The Ruined East End (page 33 of the Whitworth Book of Drawings)
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester
Stepping Stones on the River Wharfe
British Museum, London
An Interior View of the Choir of Bolton Priory
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
Bolton Abbey, from the River Wharfe (page 37 of the Whitworth Book of Drawings)
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester
Bolton Abbey: The East End of the Priory Church, from across the River Wharfe (page 38 of the Whitworth Book of Drawings)
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester
The East End of Bolton Priory Church (pages 38–39 of the Whitworth Book of Drawings)
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester
A Distant View of Middleham Castle, with the River Ure in the Foreground (page 41 of the Whitworth Book of Drawings)
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester
Middleham Village, with the Castle Beyond (page 42 of the Whitworth Book of Drawings)
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester
A Village at the Bend of a River, Probably in Yorkshire (page 44 of the Whitworth Book of Drawings)
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester
Beached Vessels at Low Tide (page 46 of the Whitworth Book of Drawings)
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester
Five Craft off the Coast on a Calm Sea (page 47 of the Whitworth Book of Drawings)
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester
Shipping off the Coast on a Calm Sea (page 48 of the Whitworth Book of Drawings)
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester
The Ruins of Old Mulgrave Castle (page 49 of the Whitworth Book of Drawings)
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester
Mulgrave Park and Castle, from near Epsyke Farm
British Museum, London
The River Nidd between Knaresborough and Wetherby
Rhode Island School of Design Museum, Providence
Kirkstall Abbey, with a Canal Barge
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
The River Nidd, between Knaresborough and Wetherby
Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle-upon-Tyne
The Valley of the Tweed, with Melrose Abbey in the Distance
Private Collection
A Clump of Trees by the Waterside
Private Collection
A Torrent by a Clump of Trees
Harvard Art Museums / Fogg Museum, Loan from George and Patti White
A River Valley and a Distant Hill Seen through Trees
Clark Art Institute, Williamstown
A Shady Road Leading to Cottages
British Museum, London
A Church in a Village, Possibly at Radwinter
British Museum, London
A Building with a Tall Chimney, next to a Stream
British Museum, London
Landscape with a Farmhouse and Cottage
Private Collection
A Schooner near the Shore
Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
A Coast Scene with Two Beached Vessels
Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
A Shipping Study: Five Craft on a Calm Sea
British Museum, London
Footnotes
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About this Work
It is not known where this rapidly executed sketch was made, though, unlike the potentially comparable study showing a scene in Hyde Park drawn at about the same time, around 1800–1801 (TG1744), it appears to have been painted on the country estate of a wealthy patron, as it includes signs of deer and sheep grazing under the boughs of the trees. Anne Lyles has suggested that this might have been at Cassiobury, the seat of George Capel-Coningsby, 5th Earl of Essex (1757–1839), in Hertfordshire. However, the watercolour that was identified as showing a sawmill in Cassiobury Park (TG1571), turns out to depict a scene in Ashtead Park and in any case there is nothing in the image that allows us to be specific about its location and it might more properly be termed a tree study (Lyles and Hamlyn, 1997, p.188). These are rare in Girtin’s work, and the few examples that spring to mind tend to date from the early part of his career (TG0174 and TG0285). However, as the dramatist Thomas Holcroft (1745–1809) noted when the artist was sketching in the environs of Paris, Girtin thought that trees if they did ‘not form masses’ might ‘individually … have been a study’ (Holcroft, 1804, vol.2, p.498).1 Moreover, there are a number of later small sketches of trees that were worked in the studio, presumably to cater for the market in his studies (TG1770 and TG1771). This work is likely to have been executed on the spot, however, and its status is confirmed by the signature to the right, which appears to be genuine. This is crucial, because in many ways the handling of such a narrow range of tones, and the way in which they interact with the prominent pencil work, is untypical of Girtin’s sketches, or at least the majority, as in most cases an architectural subject determines a different approach. Indeed, the way that the foliage of the trees is depicted as broad masses of no more than two tones, occasionally relieved by hatching using a soft piece of graphite, would be difficult to associate with the artist without the presence of a signature, as a comparison with a tree study by John Monro (1801–80), for instance, all too clearly indicates (see figure 1).
(?) 1801
Trees in Hyde Park
TG1744
1800 - 1801
The Sawmill, Cassiobury Park
TG1571
1794 - 1795
A View in Windsor Great Park with Deer
TG0174
(?) 1795
An Unidentified Landscape with a Figure Seated on a Gate under a Tree
TG0285
1800 - 1801
A Torrent by a Clump of Trees
TG1770
1800 - 1801
A Wooded Landscape
TG1771