- Description
-
- Creator(s)
- Thomas Girtin (1775-1802)
- Title
-
- A Distant View of Bolton Abbey
- Date
- 1800 - 1801
- Medium and Support
- Graphite, watercolour and scratching out on wove paper
- Dimensions
- 14 × 20.3 cm, 5 ½ × 8 in
- Part of
-
- Whitworth Book of Drawings
- Object Type
- Replica by Girtin
- Subject Terms
- Monastic Ruins; River Scenery; Yorkshire View
-
- Collection
- Versions
-
A Distant View of Bolton Abbey
(TG1614)
- Catalogue Number
- TG1681
- Girtin & Loshak Number
- 378ii as 'Bolton Abbey'; '1801'
- Description Source(s)
- Auction Catalogue
Provenance
Possibly bought by Samuel Rogers (1763–1855), £8; ... Henry Vaughan (1809–99); John Lewis Roget (1828–1908) (lent to London, 1905; London, 1908); then by descent to J. R. Roget; his sale, Sotheby’s, 12 March 1987, lot 62, £36,300
Exhibition History
London, 1905, no.6; London, 1908b, no.232 as ’A Ruined Abbey’; Agnew’s, 1953a, no.88
Bibliography
Clifford, 1976, pl.91; Morris, 1987b, p.19; Tuck, 1997, pp.93–94; Bauer, 1998, p.68
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

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 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 distant view of the ruins of Bolton Priory, from the river Wharfe, appears to have been made after an on-the-spot sketch that Girtin probably made on his trip to Yorkshire in the summer of 1800 (TG1614). This is not Girtin’s standard size of studio watercolour, sharing instead the same dimensions as the other sketch, and, although it is rather more worked up, it is not significantly different in terms of finish and it may well have been produced with the market for Girtin’s sketches in mind. Moreover, it is not out of the question that it, rather than the other version, is the drawing that was detached from the Whitworth Book of Drawings (TG1323, TG1324 and TG1600–TG1625) and that has been linked to the inscription on the page opposite the missing sheet, which reads ‘Bolton Abbey – Color’d on the spot sold to Mr. Rogers 8£’. This has been interpreted to refer to the poet and collector Samuel Rogers (1763–1855). The book, which I have deliberately not referred to as a sketchbook, contains a number of different papers that, from their watermarks and their arrangement within the binding, indicate that the contents includes a mix of copies from earlier works and sketches made on the spot, and it is therefore possible that this drawing is actually a replica that was added to the book with a sale in mind. Unfortunately, there is no evidence about the early provenance of either of the sketch-like versions of the distant view of Bolton Abbey that might link one of them definitively with the sale to Rogers, and there is no alternative at this stage but to accept a significant element of uncertainty.
Resolving these issues may be helped by understanding more about the relationship of the drawing with both the mezzotint that was executed after this version by Samuel William Reynolds (1773–1835) (see the print after, above) and the watercolour copy that has been attributed to Paul Sandby Munn (1773–1845) (see figure 1). So many of the Reynolds mezzotints can be linked with copies that are not by Girtin, produced either by the engraver himself or by amateurs working from his prints, that it is essential that we look carefully at the drawing itself. In this case, however, the quality of the work is such that I do not think that there is any question about the attribution, but I suspect that the Reynolds connection may still be important. In the first instance, since the drawing must have been in the hands of Reynolds in order to be engraved, it might well be that he was the author of the watercolour copy; in the second, could it be that the book itself came into Reynolds’ possession and that he sold this drawing from it as Girtin’s representative, acting in a capacity somewhere between agent and dealer? Two pieces of evidence suggest that this might be the case. Firstly, Reynolds’ posthumous sale included an item listed as ‘Girtin’s sketch-book; a volume containing sixty sketches in pencil views in England’ (Exhibitions: Christie’s, 18 April 1836, lot 181). Secondly, another drawing, which is still in the book, was the subject of one of his mezzotints, The Valley of the Glaslyn, near Beddgelert (see print after TG1324). Although this means discounting the veracity of the inscription stating that the detached drawing was made on the spot, it is possible that the sequence of events linking the two versions of the Bolton Abbey view could be as follows: the work discussed above (TG1614) was made by Girtin on the spot around 1800 on a small piece of paper, and this version was copied by the artist a little later on a page in the book with TG1681 as the result; and then, when the book came into the hands of Reynolds, presumably after the artist’s death, the drawing was copied by him in watercolours (see figure 1) and reproduced as a mezzotint (see print after TG1681), and that he then sold the detached page to Rogers for the inflated price of £8. A convoluted story, but not out of keeping with the complex make-up of a book of drawings that in no way resembles, in form or function, the traditional sketchbook, and with an artist who worked relentlessly to efface the distinction between the sketch and the studio work.
(?) 1800
A Distant View of Bolton Abbey
TG1614
1800 - 1801
Mountain Scenery, Said to Be near Beddgelert
TG1323
1800 - 1801
The Valley of the Glaslyn, near Beddgelert
TG1324
1798 - 1799
John Raphael Smith: ‘Waiting for the Mail Coach’
TG1600
(?) 1800
The Ruins of Old Mulgrave Castle
TG1625
1800 - 1801
The Valley of the Glaslyn, near Beddgelert
TG1324
(?) 1800
A Distant View of Bolton Abbey
TG1614
1800 - 1801
A Distant View of Bolton Abbey
TG1681
1800 - 1801
A Distant View of Bolton Abbey
TG1681