Watercolor and graphite with pen and brown ink on medium, moderately textured, beige laid paper
Dimensions:
Sheet: 9 3/4 x 12 1/4 inches (24.8 x 31.1 cm)
Credit Line:
Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection
Copyright Status:
Public Domain
Accession Number:
B1975.3.1199
Classification:
Drawings & Watercolors
Collection:
Prints and Drawings
Subject Terms:
cows | cattle | architectural subject | clouds | ruins | house | abbey | trees | stone
Associated Places:
Europe | United Kingdom | Cymru | Wales | Valle Crucis Abbey | Denbighshire
Currently On View:
Not on view
Exhibition History:
Art in Focus : Wales (Yale Center for British Art, 2014-04-04 - 2014-08-10)Fairest Isle - The Appreciation of British Scenery 1750-1850 (Yale Center for British Art, 1989-04-12 - 1989-06-25)Thomas Girtin (Yale Center for British Art, 1986-01-21 - 1986-03-30)
Publications:
Susan Morris, Thomas Girtin, 1775-1802, Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, 1986, p. 45, no. 76, NJ18 .G44 M67 (LC) (YCBA)Duncan Robinson, Fairest isle : the appreciation of British scenery, 1750-1850, , Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, 1989, p. 9, no. 67, ND1354.4 F35 (YCBA)Yale Center for British Art, Wales, New Haven, 2014, p. 20, V2519 (YCBA)
Gallery Label:
This watercolor was probably painted during Thomas Girtin’s tour of north Wales in the summer of 1798. However, this work is not typical of Girtin’s touring sketches, in which he often sketched a panoramic view surrounding picturesque ruins; it is striking in its intimate and informal nature. It contains traditional elements of a picturesque landscape, such as a clearly defined foreground, middle ground, and background, and a modified repoussoir tree along the left edge, and rustic cows acting as staffage in the foreground. The dappled lighting across the scene softens the work with a gentle glow. Gallery label for the Art in Focus: Wales(Yale Center for British Art, 2014-04-04 - 2014-08-10)