Samuel Prout OWS Trematon Castle, Cornwall

An original early 19th-century watercolour painting, Samuel Prout OWS, Trematon Castle, Cornwall.

This sweeping view at Plymouth Sound in Cornwall by Samuel Prout OWS (1783–1852) takes in the Norman remains of Trematon Castle, sat atop its motte, commanding spectacular views over the River Tamar. The serenity of the landscape belies the vibrant history of the grand Trematon estate, which continues to be made to this day.

Local man Samuel Prout was one of the masters of British watercolour painting, becoming Painter in Water-Colours in Ordinary to King George IV in 1829, and afterwards to Queen Victoria. This watercolour dates from early in his career, during which time his work was very much in the tradition of Girtin and Varley, with flat washes of limited colour and darker touches to heighten the main detail.

Prout was born in Plymouth and made sketching tours in the area with Benjamin Robert Haydon around the end of the 18th century. Haydon’s father was a printer, publisher and bookseller, who kept a shop in the Market Place in Plymouth. There, in 1801, now aged eighteen, Prout met the budding antiquary, John Britton, who was in town to look for materials for the projected topographical survey, Beauties of England and Wales. The same year Prout made an abortive tour of Cornwall, working for Britton. In 1802 he moved to London to live and work with Britton. In 1805 he returned to Devon and Cornwall, having been driven home by ill health, but returned to London in 1808, where he set up as a drawing master.

Trematon Castle, built to control a ferry crossing over the River Tamar, dates from shortly after the Norman Conquest and was incorporated into the Duchy of Cornwall in 1337. By the mid-16th century the castle was in ruins. In the early 19th century the estate was leased out on a long term basis; 1808 was the year that one of the tenants, D.A. Alexander, constructed a new mansion within the bailey and demolished parts of the medieval curtain wall to give his new property a better view.

In the 20th century the castle was spoken warmly of by poet laureate John Betjeman, who called the view 'one of the most superb views of Cornwall', and Queen Elizabeth made a visit to Trematon in 1962. Tenant-custodians in recent years have put the estate on the interiors map, including landscape gardeners Julian and Isabel Bannerman who transformed the gardens at Trematon into a fairytale haven, and owners of East London lifestyle brand House of Hackney, who have turned Trematon into a pop-up hotel bedecked with their signature maximalist decor inspired by nature.

Provenance: Albany Gallery Collection