Featured Richard P Leitch Castle Watercolor- Reframed

I finally found time to clean, reframe, and reglaze an 1876 antique watercolor of a castle by Richard P Leitch. In the process I used archival grade buffered off-white matboard, 70% UV protective anti-glare glass (92% was incredibly expensive), and a salvaged vintage frame. I dry cleaned the surface with eraser crumbs and removed some old acidic matboard from the verso.

For years Leitch painted fantastic watercolor landscapes for a variety of clients, including Queen Victoria. He painted this picture later in life. If anyone has any thoughts on the location/ specific castle, please let me know!

The watercolor arrived from the auction house in a 1970s-era frame with a moisture-damaged acidic backer and matboard.

I'm floored by the improvement in clarity, color, etc. Incredible that this watercolor dates to 1876! 24-1/2" x 19-1/2" sight size




Before:
Please see original "British Invasion 1/2" thread for some before photos: The British Invasion- 19th Century Art (1/2) | Antiques Board (antiquers.com)

 

Internet says 'Cows in the foreground of a ruined highland castle' 1860 and 'Landscape with a female drover and cattle on the banks of a castle ruins' 1876. Not terribly helpful.

Debora

 

Looks absolutely great. Beautiful colours. Great job!

 

I think this is Caerlaverock Castle
https://www.castle-finders.co.uk/Scotland/caerlaverock%20castle.html

Here is a less romanticised version by Leitch
https://www.watercolourworld.org/painting/caerlaverock-castle-tww0010c6

 

That's odd. Caerlaverock is moated in the photograph but not in the painting identified as the same location. (And a stone access bridge would negative the purpose of a moat in the first place.)

Debora

 

Yes, it's odd. I can't find any evidence for existence of a stone bridge there. But I think this recent photo is pretty convincing for ID.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/andylinden/22506911127/

 

I have no clue but it sure is LOVELY!!!!

 

May be an example of the romanticized Victorian sensibility.

Debora

 

In the painting the castle looked moated to me, but some of the water was taken over by vegetation. The painting was done in the 1870s and the photos are recent. It looks like the tourist bureau in Scotland removed the ivy and took away some things that might injure the tourists as they climb around in the ruins. And they obviously applied some recent mortar to keep the stones in place. It's now a safer tourist attraction. They might have also torn down the bridge, but someone local would have to tell us if that's the case.

 

Thank you for all of the help here! Fascinating castle with quite the history.

I believe the castle is moated in my watercolor. The water just has a translucent appearance. Wikipedia cites another watercolor from the 1830s that appears to show a small stone bridge. The stone bridge appeared to be demolished by 1900.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caerlaverock_Castle