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Works (?) Thomas Girtin and Joseph Mallord William Turner after (?) John Robert Cozens

A Covered Bridge with a Mountain Beyond, Possibly in Switzerland

1794 - 1797

Primary Image: TG0511: (?) Thomas Girtin (1775–1802) and Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775–1851), after (?) John Robert Cozens (1752–97), A Covered Bridge with a Mountain Beyond, Possibly in Switzerland, 1794–97, graphite and watercolour on wove paper, 17.8 × 22.9 cm, 7 × 9 in. The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens, Gilbert Davis Collection (59.55.1277).

Photo courtesy of The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens, Gilbert Davis Collection (All Rights Reserved)

Description
Creator(s)
(?) Thomas Girtin (1775-1802) and Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775-1851) after (?) John Robert Cozens (1752-1797)
Title
  • A Covered Bridge with a Mountain Beyond, Possibly in Switzerland
Date
1794 - 1797
Medium and Support
Graphite and watercolour on wove paper
Dimensions
17.8 × 22.9 cm, 7 × 9 in
Object Type
Collaborations; Monro School Copy
Subject Terms
Unidentified Landscape

Collection
Catalogue Number
TG0511
Description Source(s)
Viewed in 2001

Provenance

Dr Thomas Monro (1759–1833); his posthumous sale, possibly Christie’s, 28 June 1833, lot 80 as 'A scrap-book, containing 66 sketches in Switzerland, in blue and Indian ink' by 'Turner'; bought by 'Hixon', £21 11s 6d; ... P & D Colnaghi & Co., 1951 as by Joseph Mallord William Turner; bought from them by Gilbert Davis (1899–1983); bought from him by the Gallery, 1959

Bibliography

The Huntington Online as 'Bridge and Mountain' by Joseph Mallord William Turner 'after John Robert Cozens'

About this Work

This view of one of the characteristic covered wooden bridges of the Alps has a number of features in common with the work produced at the house of Dr Thomas Monro (1759–1833) by Girtin and his contemporary Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775–1851) in the winter months of the years between 1794 and 1797. The composition, with its concentration on a picturesque architectural motif, may be untypical of the views made after sketches by John Robert Cozens (1752–97) dating from his 1776 journey through Switzerland, but the subject is clearly Swiss and the work follows one of the standard formats adapted by Cozens and copied by Girtin and Turner – that is, working on paper measuring 9 ½ × 7 1/4 in (24 × 18.5 cm). Admittedly, the drawing is more densely coloured than the generally monochrome landscapes created for Monro, but there is a small group of more compact and more richly worked views, such as A Ruined Tower in a Valley, near Chur (TG0491), that suggest that there is a Cozens link here. The Junction of the Two Rhines at Reichenau (TG0486), which was probably copied from a drawing by Cozens, includes two similar covered bridges, and it is likely that this smaller watercolour represents one of the bridges he sketched on his way through Switzerland to Italy.

A Covered Bridge with a Mountain Beyond, Possibly in Switzerland

The exact division of labour in the Monro School watercolours is rarely straightforward, however. In this case, the watercolour has always been attributed to Turner alone, and too little of the pencil drawing is visible to suggest with any great certainty that Girtin was also involved in its production. However, the fact that Turner’s watercolour washes predominate does not in itself mean that the work was not a collaborative effort, and a joint attribution with a small question mark against Girtin’s name is my best suggestion for this typical Monro School quandary. A second version of the composition also exists, possibly copied by John Monro (1801–80) after the work by Girtin and Turner (see figure 1). The use of colour certainly suggests that it was not copied from a Cozens sketch, and we can safely assume that if it, or a tracing, was the ultimate model for the composition here, then it left Monro’s hands well before his posthumous sale, which contained just a few of Cozens’ works.

1794 - 1797

A Ruined Tower in a Valley, near Chur

TG0491

1794 - 1797

The Junction of the Two Rhines at Reichenau

TG0486

by Greg Smith

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