Bamburgh Castle, Northumberland
Thomas Girtin, c. 1797-99
Originally an eleventh-century Norman stronghold, Bamburgh Castle has survived several sieges and welcomed many English monarchs as guests. When Girtin visited, the ruin housed a refuge for shipwrecked mariners and he rejected the familiar view of the castle in favour of a battered fragment of the outer wall, leaving the viewer to imagine what violent natural forces may have wrecked the walls.