A Stag Hunt at Chirk
John Wootton (Snitterfield c.1682 – London 1764)
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
circa 1715 (monogrammed)
Materials
Oil on canvas
Measurements
1235 x 1483 x 50 mm
Order this imageCollection
Chirk Castle, Wrexham
NT 1171105
Caption
This unusual landscape scene is undated, although it must have been painted before 1719, when a great ironwork screen and gates were installed across the forecourt of the castle (these details are evident in a later painting view of the site by Peter Tillemans, NT 1171183). The style of the painting demonstrates Wootton’s knowledge of the Dutch artist, Jan Wyck – a source which is cryptically alluded to by a monogram which reads ‘JW’, initials the two artists shared.
Summary
Oil painting on canvas, A Stag Hunt at Chirk by John Wootton (Snitterfield c.1682 – London 1764), signed JW (in red monogram), a pastiche of Jan Wyck, circa 1715. The castle is shown on the left as it was before 1719, when the Davies brothers’ screen and gates were set in place before the Chirk Castle forecourt, and the old stable by the north-west tower and classical bathhouse in centre are discernible. On the right are the Berwyn mountains, much exaggerated in height. Sir Richard Myddelton 3rd Baronet (1655-1716) is probably in the hunting party, in the foreground, with his son, William (Sir William Myddelton, 4th Bt (1694-1718) and his daughter, Mary Myddelton (1688-1747).
Full description
Associated with Chirk Castle
Provenance
With some of the contents, in 1978, that were acquired along with Chirk Castle from Lt-Col Ririd Myddelton (1902–1988) by the National Land Fund and handed, on loan for 99 years, to the Secretary of State for Wales (In 1981 Chirk was transferred into the ownership of the National Trust). On loan to the Trust from Guy Charles Myddelton. Gifted to Guy C Myddelton from Captain David Myddelton in 2010. Purchased by the National Trust from Mr Guy Myddelton in 2023.
Credit line
Chirk Castle, The Myddelton Collection (National Trust)
Marks and inscriptions
JW
Makers and roles
John Wootton (Snitterfield c.1682 – London 1764), artist
References
Harris 1979 John Harris, The Artist and the Country House. A History of Country House and Garden View Painting in Britain 1540-1870, London 1979, no. 242 Lord 2000 Peter Lord, The Visual Culture of Wales: Imaging the Nation, Cardiff University of Wales Press, 2000, p.90, illus fig.138