- Description
-
- Creator(s)
- Thomas Girtin (1775-1802)
- Title
-
- A Crag on the River Nidd (page 31 of the Whitworth Book of Drawings)
- Date
- (?) 1800
- Medium and Support
- Graphite and watercolour on wove paper
- Dimensions
- 14.6 × 21.7 cm, 5 ¾ × 8 ½ in
- Inscription
‘river nid’ lower left, by Thomas Girtin
- Part of
- Object Type
- Replica by Girtin
- Subject Terms
- River Scenery; Yorkshire View
-
- Collection
-
- The Whitworth, The University of Manchester
- (D.1977.15.30)
- Versions
-
A Crag on the River Nidd
(TG1510)
- Catalogue Number
- TG1611
- Girtin & Loshak Number
- 370ii as 'Grimbald Crag'; '1800 or 1801'
- Description Source(s)
- Viewed in 2001, 2002 and May 2022
Provenance
Sale at Platt Vicarage, Rusholme, Manchester, 1898; sketchbook bought by 'Shepherd'; then by descent to F. W. Shepherd; his sale, Sotheby’s, 7 July 1977, lot 46; bought by Baskett and Day; bought by the Gallery, 1977
Bibliography
Hardie, 1938–39, no.12, p.93; NACF, Report, 1977, p.119; Hill, 1999, p.44
Place depicted
Other entries in Later Sketches:
Taken on the Spot and Worked in the Studio
Mountain Scenery, Said to Be near Beddgelert (page 15, reverse, of the Whitworth Book of Drawings)
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester
The Valley of the Glaslyn, near Beddgelert (page 15 of the Whitworth Book of Drawings)
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester
Trees in a Glade Overlooking a Lake
Private Collection
Middleham Village, with the Castle Beyond
Victoria and Albert Museum, London
An Extensive Landscape with the Ruins of Mitford Castle
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
Plumpton Rocks, near Knaresborough
Private Collection
A Parkland Landscape with Cattle and Sheep
Private Collection
John Raphael Smith: 'Waiting for the Mail Coach' (mounted on page 1 of the Whitworth Book of Drawings)
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester
Chelsea Reach, Looking towards Battersea (page 11 of the Whitworth Book of Drawings)
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester
The Stables, Plompton Park (page 17 of the Whitworth Book of Drawings)
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester
Harewood House, from the South West (page 18 of the Whitworth Book of Drawings)
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester
Grimbald Bridge, near Knaresborough (page 20 of the Whitworth Book of Drawings)
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester
The Abbey Mill, near Knaresborough (page 25 of the Whitworth Book of Drawings)
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester
A Farmhouse in Malhamdale, Known as 'Kirkby Priory, near Malham' (page 26 of the Whitworth Book of Drawings)
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester
Sandsend (page 29 of the Whitworth Book of Drawings)
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester
Grimbald Crag, near Knaresborough (page 30 of the Whitworth Book of Drawings)
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester
A Crag on the River Nidd (page 31 of the Whitworth Book of Drawings)
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester
Guisborough Priory: The Ruined East End (page 33 of the Whitworth Book of Drawings)
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester
Stepping Stones on the River Wharfe
British Museum, London
An Interior View of the Choir of Bolton Priory
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
Bolton Abbey, from the River Wharfe (page 37 of the Whitworth Book of Drawings)
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester
Bolton Abbey: The East End of the Priory Church, from across the River Wharfe (page 38 of the Whitworth Book of Drawings)
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester
The East End of Bolton Priory Church (pages 38–39 of the Whitworth Book of Drawings)
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester
A Distant View of Middleham Castle, with the River Ure in the Foreground (page 41 of the Whitworth Book of Drawings)
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester
Middleham Village, with the Castle Beyond (page 42 of the Whitworth Book of Drawings)
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester
A Village at the Bend of a River, Probably in Yorkshire (page 44 of the Whitworth Book of Drawings)
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester
Beached Vessels at Low Tide (page 46 of the Whitworth Book of Drawings)
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester
Five Craft off the Coast on a Calm Sea (page 47 of the Whitworth Book of Drawings)
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester
Shipping off the Coast on a Calm Sea (page 48 of the Whitworth Book of Drawings)
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester
The Ruins of Old Mulgrave Castle (page 49 of the Whitworth Book of Drawings)
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester
Mulgrave Park and Castle, from near Epsyke Farm
British Museum, London
The River Nidd between Knaresborough and Wetherby
Rhode Island School of Design Museum, Providence
Kirkstall Abbey, with a Canal Barge
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
The River Nidd, between Knaresborough and Wetherby
Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle upon Tyne
The Valley of the Tweed, with Melrose Abbey in the Distance
Private Collection
A Clump of Trees by the Waterside
Private Collection
A Torrent by a Clump of Trees
Harvard Art Museums / Fogg Museum, Loan from George and Patti White
A River Valley and a Distant Hill Seen through Trees
Clark Art Institute, Williamstown
A Shady Road Leading to Cottages
British Museum, London
A Church in a Village, Possibly at Radwinter
British Museum, London
A Building with a Tall Chimney, next to a Stream
British Museum, London
Landscape with a Farmhouse and Cottage
Private Collection
A Schooner near the Shore
Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
A Coast Scene with Two Beached Vessels
Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
A Shipping Study: Five Craft on a Calm Sea
British Museum, London
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About this Work
This view of a crag on the river Nidd, near Knaresborough in Yorkshire, has been identified by David Hill as showing a scene between the Abbey Mill and Grimbald Bridge (possibly a site known as St Robert’s Cave), both of which Girtin depicted in pencil sketches that are also in the Whitworth Book of Drawings (TG1604 and TG1607) (Hill, 1999, p.44). Many of the drawings in the book were made on the spot in 1800, but at least four were copied from earlier drawings, including this view on the river Nidd on page thirty-one and another of Grimbald Bridge (TG1509). This, like the copy of Grimbald Bridge, replicates a smaller sketch measuring 11.2 × 16.7 cm (4 ⅜ × 6 ⅝ in) (TG1510), so that unlike the view of Middleham (TG1508), one of the replicas in the Book of Drawings that was actually traced from its source, this drawing must have been copied freehand. Even so, differences are difficult to detect, and, initially at least, it is hard to appreciate what Girtin was up to in producing what Hill described as a ‘remarkably close variant’. However, I suspect that the answer stems from the ready market for Girtin’s sketches, both in pencil and in colours, that the artist succeeded in building up over the years. The likeliest scenario is that, as in the case of the Middleham sketch, Girtin found a purchaser for his on-the-spot drawing of the river Nidd scene and that, prior to parting with it, he produced a replica, either in the Book of Drawings or on a piece of paper that was later bound into it. This could then be shown to potential clients and used as the basis for a watercolour commission, though equally it too might find a purchaser, who would have had no reason to think that the replica was not sketched on the spot. The colouring in this copy is actually more convincing than the original, which is so slapdash as to suggest that it might even have been added by another hand. It is ironic that the finer version of the sketch did not find a purchaser, being one of only two of the dozen or so colour sketches originally part of the Book of Drawings that were not removed from the volume.
(?) 1800
Grimbald Bridge, near Knaresborough
TG1604
(?) 1800
The Abbey Mill, near Knaresborough
TG1607
1799 - 1800
Grimbald Bridge, near Knaresborough
TG1509
1799 - 1800
A Crag on the River Nidd
TG1510
1799
Middleham Village, with the Castle Beyond
TG1508