'Trees in a Park', Thomas Girtin

Artwork details

Artist

Thomas Girtin (1775‑1802)

Title

Trees in a Park

Date c.1798-1800

MediumGraphite, chalk and watercolour on paper

Dimensionssupport: 244 x 441 mm

Collection

Tate

Acquisition Purchased as part of the Oppé Collection with assistance from the National Lottery through the Heritage Lottery Fund 1996

Reference

T08112

View this artwork by appointment, at Tate Britain's Prints and Drawings Rooms

Display caption

In the 1790s Thomas Girtin and J.M.W.Turner (no.78) were the prime leaders in the revolution of watercolour technique. They evolved a bolder and more expressive use of the medium, especially in response to the more dramatic and evocative scenery they encountered in Yorkshire and North Wales. Individual studies of trees are rare in Girtin's work, since he generally preferred to paint broad stretches of open countryside. This one was made in a park, perhaps in Cassiobury Park in Hertfordshire. Girtin enjoyed a reputation in his own lifetime for making sketches in the open air. However, this study seems more likely to have been coloured in the studio.

August 2004