John Constable (1776–1837), the great landscape painter, owned at least one watercolour by Girtin, Ripon Minster, with Skellgate Bridge (TG1659) as well as an aquatint from Picturesque Views in Paris (Exhibitions: Christie’s, 17 June 1892, lot 10), though he does not appear to have met the artist. Girtin’s influence on Constable, to be seen particularly in the latter’s watercolour sketches of Lake District scenes such as View in Borrowdale (see TG1584 figure 1), stemmed from his familiarity with the collection of their mutual patron Sir George Howland Beaumont, 7th Baronet (1753–1827). Charles Robert Leslie (1794–1859) described how Constable was encouraged to study the ‘thirty works by Girtin’ in his collection ‘as examples of breadth and truth’ (Leslie, 1845, p.6). Watercolours such as A Bridge over the River Derwent, Watendlath (TG1584), which Girtin produced from Beaumont’s own sketch, account for only ten of the ‘thirty works’ mentioned by Leslie, however, and the remainder are very likely to have been the twenty Paris aquatints to which Beaumont was a subscriber (Chancery, Income and Expenses, 1804). A list of subscribers is included in John Girtin’s account of the income he received from the Picturesque Views in Paris, together with the expenses incurred in completing the project. They are transcribed in the Documents section of the Archive (1804 – Item 1).

1800

Ripon Minster, with Skellgate Bridge

TG1659

1799 - 1800

A Bridge over the River Derwent, Watendlath

TG1584

1799 - 1800

A Bridge over the River Derwent, Watendlath

TG1584