- Description
-
- Creator(s)
- (?) Samuel William Reynolds (1773-1835) after Thomas Girtin (1775-1802)
- Title
-
- A Distant View of Guisborough Priory
- Date
- 1801 - 1803
- Medium and Support
- Oil on canvas
- Dimensions
- 35 × 50.4 cm, 13 ¾ × 19 ⅞ in
- Inscription
'This is the only known picture by T. Girtin painted in oils. It is a copy of one of his well known watercolours. It was painted at Coleorton Hall about 1798 for his friend and patron Sir George Beaumont, Bart.' on a label on the back
- Object Type
- Oil painting
- Subject Terms
- Monastic Ruins; Yorkshire View
Provenance
Sir George Howland Beaumont, 7th Baronet (1753–1827); then by descent to Sir George Howland Francis Beaumont, 12th Baronet (1924–2011); his sale, Sotheby’s, 16 March 1978, no.95 as 'Guisborough Priory' by Thomas Girtin, unsold; bought by the Museum, 1978
Exhibition History
New Haven, 1982, III.19 as ’Guisborough Abbey’ by Thomas Girtin; New Haven, 1986b, no.31 as by Thomas Girtin
Bibliography
Herrmann and Owen, 1973, p.47; Girtin and Loshak, 1954, p.120, p.196 as 'A replica in oil ... may conceivably be by Girtin'; Hawcroft, 1975, p.57; Hawes, 1982, pp.40-41; Cormack, 1986, pp.35-37; Smith, 2002b, p.225; YCBA Onlne as by Thomas Girtin (Accessed 19/09/2022)
Place depicted
Other entries in Late Watercolours:
Samuel William Reynolds and Painting for the Art Market
An Imaginary City, with Antique Buildings
Rhode Island School of Design Museum, Providence
Ancient Ruins, with an Obelisk
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
Ancient Ruins, with a Gothic Church
National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh
A Classical Composition, with a Church and Column
Walker Art Gallery, National Museums Liverpool
The Arch of Janus, Rome
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
The Temple of Clitumnus
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
Rome: The Temple of Antoninus and Faustina
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
Rome: The Temple of Saturn, with the Arch of Septimius Severus
Private Collection
A Town on an Estuary
Rhode Island School of Design Museum, Providence
A Lagoon Capriccio
Birmingham Museums & Art Gallery
An Unidentified Coastal Landscape with a Windmill
Lady Lever Art Gallery, Port Sunlight
Barnard Castle, from the River Tees
Bowes Museum, Barnard Castle
A Farmhouse, Said to Be near Newcastle upon Tyne
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
An Exterior View of the Ruins of Lindisfarne Priory Church
Lindisfarne Priory, Northumberland (English Heritage)
Kelso Abbey: The West Front
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester
Jedburgh Abbey, from the Riverbank
The Higgins, Bedford
On the River Medway, with a Boatyard, Beached Vessels and Hulks
Private Collection
Bisham Abbey, on the River Thames
Private Collection
A Classical Composition, with Figures Admiring the Sculptures
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester
An Unidentified Ruin next to a Bridge over a Stream, Said to Be Furness Abbey
Touchstones Rochdale
The Gatehouse of Morpeth Castle
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
Buildings on the River Nidd, near Knaresborough
British Museum, London
Kirkstall Abbey, from Kirkstall Hill
British Museum, London
Kirkstall Abbey, from Kirkstall Bridge, Morning
Victoria and Albert Museum, London
Kirkstall Abbey, from the Canal, Evening
Private Collection
A Distant View of Kirkstall Abbey
Williamson Art Gallery & Museum, Birkenhead
An Unidentified Scene, Formerly Known as ‘Kirkstall Village’
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
Wetherby Bridge and Mills, Looking across the Weir
The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
Wetherby: Looking through the Bridge to the Mills
British Museum, London
Wetherby: Looking through the Bridge to the Mills
Leeds Art Gallery
Kirk Deighton, near Wetherby
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester
York: The New Walk on the Banks of the River Ouse
Victoria and Albert Museum, London
York: The Layerthorpe Bridge and Postern
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester
York: The Layerthorpe Bridge and Postern
Private Collection
York Minster from the South East, Layerthorpe Bridge and Postern to the Right
Private Collection
A Farmyard with Barns, Ladder and Figures; A Sky Study
Courtauld Gallery, London
Ripon Minster, with Skellgate Bridge
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
Ripon Minster, with Skellgate Bridge
Leeds Art Gallery
Ripon Minster, with Skellgate Bridge
Blackburn Museum and Art Gallery
A Distant View of Ripon Minster, from the River Skell
Private Collection
Ripon Minster, from the South East
National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh
Ripon Minster, from the South West
Private Collection
The Abbey Mill, near Knaresborough
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
A Mountain Stream in Spate, Possibly the River Wharfe
Private Collection
Bolton Abbey: The East End of the Priory Church from across the River Wharfe
Eton College, Windsor
Bolton Abbey: The East End of the Priory Church, from across the River Wharfe
National Museum of Wales, Cardiff
Bolton Abbey: The East End of the Priory Church, from across the River Wharfe
Leeds Art Gallery
Bolton Abbey, from the River Wharfe
Private Collection
Bolton Abbey, from the River Wharfe
Private Collection
The Banks of the River Wharfe, with Bolton Abbey in the Distance
Private Collection
Stepping Stones on the River Wharfe, near Bolton Abbey
National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh
Stepping Stones on the River Wharfe, near Bolton Abbey
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Storiths Heights, near Bolton Abbey, from the River Wharfe
Fitzwilliam Museum, University of Cambridge
Richmond Castle, from the River Swale
Leeds Art Gallery
A Farmhouse in Malhamdale, Known as 'Kirkby Priory, near Malham'
British Museum, London
An Ancient Oak, Said to Be on the River Ure
Private Collection
Cottages at Hawes, from Gayle Beck
Birmingham Museums & Art Gallery
Cottages at Hawes, from Gayle Beck
Private Collection, Norfolk
Cottages at Hawes, from Gayle Beck
Private Collection
Cottages at Hawes, from Gayle Beck
Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
Guisborough Priory: The Ruined East End
Tate, London
A Distant View of Guisborough Priory; The Tithe Barn, Abbotsbury
Private Collection, Norfolk
A Distant View of Guisborough Priory
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
A Distant View of Guisborough Priory
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
A Farmhouse, Said to Be near Newcastle upon Tyne
Private Collection
Warkworth Castle, from the River Coquet
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
An Upland Landscape, Said to Show Etal Castle
Victoria and Albert Museum, London
The River Tweed at Kelso, Looking Upstream
Courtauld Gallery, London
The Eildon Hills, from the River Tweed
Fitzwilliam Museum, University of Cambridge
A Distant View of Dryburgh Abbey, with the Eildon Hills Beyond
Private Collection
The Valley of the Tweed, with Melrose Abbey in the Distance
Private Collection
Jedburgh Abbey, from Jed Water
Fitzwilliam Museum, University of Cambridge
Jedburgh Abbey, from the South East
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
The Village of Jedburgh
National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh
Southampton: The South Gate and Old Gaol
Private Collection
Bristol Harbour, with St Mary Redcliffe in the Distance
Bristol Museum & Art Gallery
A Wharf with Shipping, Possibly at Bristol
Art Institute of Chicago
A Rainbow over the River Exe
National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin
A Rainbow over the River Exe
The Huntington Library, Art Museum and Botanical Gardens, San Marino
A Rainbow over the River Exe
Graves Gallery, Sheffield
Lydford Castle, from the River Lyd
Clark Art Institute, Williamstown
St Vincent’s Rocks and the Avon Gorge
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester
On the River Taw, North Devon, Looking from Braunton Marsh towards Instow and Appledore
National Gallery of Art, Washington
Conwy Castle, from the River Gyffin
Private Collection, Norfolk
Chelsea Reach, Looking towards Battersea (The White House, Chelsea)
Tate, London
Chelsea Reach, Looking towards Battersea
Private Collection, Norfolk
A Panoramic Landscape, with Figures Trawling a Pond
Private Collection
Landscape with a Distant Ridge, Possibly Hampstead Heath
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
An Inn Yard, Edgware Road, Paddington
British Museum, London
The Thames from a Window of the Old Toy Inn, Hampton Court
British Museum, London
The Old Cottage, Widmore, near Bromley
British Museum, London
Shipping on the River Medway
Museum of New Zealand, Wellington
A Farmyard with Cattle, Poultry and Labourers Unloading Hay, Possibly Pinkney's Farm, Wimbish
Art Institute of Chicago
Farmhouse and Outbuildings, Possibly in Essex
Aberdeen Art Gallery
An Unidentified Village Street with a Church Tower in the Distance
British Museum, London
A Panoramic Landscape, Possibly Showing Primrose Hill, London
Private Collection
A Mountain Stream with a Watermill and Bridge
Eton College, Windsor
Unidentified Landscape with a Distant Rain Shower
National Museum of Wales, Cardiff
Warkworth Church, with the Bridge Beyond
Victoria and Albert Museum, London
An Italianate Landscape with Two Monks
Private Collection
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About this Work
This version in oils of Girtin’s watercolour view of Guisborough Priory seen from a distance with Rosebery Topping beyond (TG1699) was discovered in the early years of the twentieth century in the ancestral home of Girtin’s patron Sir George Howland Beaumont, 7th Baronet (1753–1827). Thomas Girtin (1874–1960), a co-discoverer of the painting, subsequently included it in his catalogue of the artist’s works, with the significant proviso that although ‘it may conceivably be by Girtin’, he ‘found it difficult to decide … whether it was rather the case of Sir George himself copying Girtin’s watercolour’ (Girtin and Loshak, 1954, pp.120 and 196). The argument in favour of Girtin as the author of the work revolved around the ‘curiously thin colour’, which suggested to the artist’s descendant that it had been painted by a beginner in the art, and that it was perhaps a case of Girtin indulging in ‘some practice with oil paint, before producing his only recorded painting of Bolton Bridge’ (TG1687), shown at the Royal Academy in 1801 (Exhibitions: Royal Academy, London, 1801). Variations of this argument were repeated in the sale catalogue dating from 1978, when the oil was put up for sale from the Beaumont collection. Subsequently, following its acquisition by the Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, the idea that this is the work of a neophyte ‘translating into oil … his transparent watercolor technique’ has occasionally resurfaced (Cormack, 1986, pp.35–37). However, as Francis Hawcroft has noted, it is surely impossible to make such a judgement when there is no surviving oil by the artist to compare the work with, and indeed I would go much further and dismiss the attribution of what is a feeble effort on a number of other grounds (Hawcroft, 1975, p.57).
The prime of these is that the composition that was used as the basis for the work (TG1699) can only date, at the latest, from a few months before Girtin exhibited an oil painting at the Royal Academy, which was described by a number of reviewers as ‘one of the very best works which the present Exhibition contains’ (London Courier, 2 May 1801). Moreover, as Thomas Girtin (1874–1960) himself suggested, there was at least one better candidate for the authorship of such an amateurish effort in Beaumont himself. And to this name can be added that of Samuel William Reynolds (1773–1835), who not only probably had access to the original watercolour in his role as Girtin’s representative during the artist’s last years, when he acted somewhere between an agent and a dealer, but also might even have been the author of a copy in watercolours (TG1700), which could, in turn, have provided the basis for the oil. Reynolds, it must be remembered, was someone who worked for Beaumont, and, as Felicity Owen has shown, he produced engravings after the patron’s works, and he also offered his advice to the amateur on painting in oils. Indeed, Reynolds’ role as a preceptor in the skills of painting in oils might account for the presence in the patron’s collection of a copy in that medium of a Girtin composition by either Reynolds himself or Beaumont (Owen and Brown, 1988, pp.103 and 155). Finally, Reynolds was clearly influenced by Girtin’s work, as a painting of Solway Moss in the collection of the direct descendent of another of the artist’s patrons, Samuel Whitbread (1764–1815), can testify; both the foreground and the distance bear a distinct resemblance to the view of Guisborough. Even though the disappearance of Bolton Bridge makes a final conclusion impossible to confirm, the cumulative evidence overwhelmingly suggests that the painting of Guisborough is not a Girtin experiment in oils.
1800 - 1801
A Distant View of Guisborough Priory; The Tithe Barn, Abbotsbury
TG1699
(?) 1801
Bolton Bridge
TG1687
1800 - 1801
A Distant View of Guisborough Priory; The Tithe Barn, Abbotsbury
TG1699
1800 - 1801
A Distant View of Guisborough Priory
TG1700