- Description
-
- Creator(s)
- Unknown Artist
- Title
-
- A Distant View of Hull
- Date
- 1798 - 1799
- Medium and Support
- Watercolour on paper
- Dimensions
- 25.4 × 34.3 cm, 10 × 13 ½ in
- Object Type
- Studio Watercolour
- Subject Terms
- Yorkshire View
-
- Collection
- Catalogue Number
- TG1537
- Description Source(s)
- Witt Library Photograph
Provenance
Fine Art Society, London
Exhibition History
Fine Art Society, 1949, no.31 as by Thomas Girtin
Place depicted
Other entries in The 1796 Northern Tour to Yorkshire, the North East and the Scottish Borders:
Sketches and Subsequent Watercolours
Bamburgh Castle, from the South
Cragside House, Northumberland (National Trust)
Durham Cathedral, from the South West
British Museum, London
The Ouse Bridge, York, from the North Shore
British Museum, London
The Ouse Bridge, York, from Skeldergate Postern
York Art Gallery
York: The New Walk on the Banks of the Ouse
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
York Minster, from the South West
Private Collection
York Minster, from the South West
Private Collection
York Minster, from the Ouse, with St Mary’s Abbey
Harewood House, Yorkshire
The South Side of York Minster, Showing the Transept and the Western Towers
Private Collection, Yorkshire
York Minster, from the South East, Layerthorpe Bridge and Postern to the Right
British Museum, London
Unidentified Gothic Ruins, Said to Be St Mary’s Abbey, York
Birmingham Museums & Art Gallery
A Distant View of Ripon Minster, from the River Skell
Private Collection
A Distant View of Ripon Minster, from the River Skell
Harewood House, Yorkshire
A Distant View of Rievaulx Abbey
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
Easby Abbey, from the River Swale
Private Collection
Easby Abbey, from the River Swale
Manchester Art Gallery
Easby Abbey, from the River Swale
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
The Bridge at Warkworth, with the Church Beyond
Victoria and Albert Museum, London
Richmond, Yorkshire: The Seventeenth-Century House Known as St Nicholas
British Museum, London
Richmond Castle and Bridge, from the River Swale
The Huntington Library, Art Museum and Botanical Gardens, San Marino
Richmond Castle and Bridge, from the River Swale
Victoria Gallery and Museum, University of Liverpool
Richmond Castle and Town, from the South East
Private Collection
Barnard Castle, from the River Tees
British Museum, London
Egglestone Abbey, from the River Tees
Gallery Oldham
Egglestone Abbey, on the River Tees
British Museum, London
Durham Cathedral and Castle, from the River Wear
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Durham Cathedral and Castle, from the River Wear
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester
Durham Cathedral and Castle, from the River Wear
J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles
Durham Castle and Cathedral, from below the Weir
Private Collection, Norfolk
Durham Castle and Cathedral, from below the Weir
Victoria and Albert Museum, London
Durham Castle and Cathedral, from below the Weir; Dryburgh Abbey with the Eildon Hills Beyond
Birmingham Museums & Art Gallery
Durham Cathedral, from the South West
Private Collection
St Nicholas’ Church, Newcastle-upon-Tyne
Private Collection
Tynemouth Priory, from the Coast
Cleveland Museum of Art
Bothal Castle, from the River Wansbeck
Private Collection
A River Scene with a Tower, Said to Be the Tyne near Hexham
Leeds Art Gallery
Warkworth Castle, from the River Coquet
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
Warkworth Castle, from the River Coquet
Private Collection, Norfolk
The Bridge at Warkworth, with the Castle Beyond
Untraced Works
Dunstanburgh Castle, Viewed from a Distance
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
Dunstanburgh Castle: The Lilburn Tower
Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle-upon-Tyne
Lindisfarne: An Interior View of the Ruins of the Priory Church
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester
Lindisfarne: An Interior View of the Ruins of the Priory Church
Fitzwilliam Museum, University of Cambridge
An Interior View of the Ruins of Lindisfarne Priory Church
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
Lindisfarne: The Nave and Crossing of the Priory Church
British Museum, London
An Exterior View of the Ruins of Lindisfarne Priory Church
Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
An Exterior View of the Ruins of Lindisfarne Priory Church
Private Collection
York Minster, from the South East, Layerthorpe Bridge and Postern to the Right
Victoria and Albert Museum, London
Dryburgh Abbey: The South Transept Looking North
Private Collection
Dryburgh Abbey: The South Transept from the Cloister
Private Collection
Melrose Abbey: The Ruined Presbytery and the East Window
Clark Art Institute, Williamstown
Melrose Abbey: The Ruined Presbytery and the East Window
Cooper Gallery, Barnsley
Melrose Abbey, from the North East
The Morgan Library & Museum, New York
Jedburgh Abbey, from the North East
Private Collection
Jedburgh Abbey, from Jed Water
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
The Village of Jedburgh, with the Abbey Ruins
British Museum, London
The Village of Jedburgh, with the Abbey Ruins
Private Collection, Bedfordshire
The West Front of Jedburgh Abbey
British Museum, London
Jedburgh Abbey, from the South East
Blickling Hall, Norfolk (National Trust)
The Ruins of the Lady Chapel, near Bothal
Rhode Island School of Design Museum, Providence
Bamburgh Castle, from the Village
Guy Peppiatt Fine Art Ltd
St Nicholas’ Church, Newcastle-upon-Tyne
Victoria Gallery and Museum, University of Liverpool
Richmond, Yorkshire: The Seventeenth-Century House Known as St Nicholas
Private Collection
An Interior View of Fountains Abbey: The East Window from the Presbytery
Graves Gallery, Sheffield
St Mary’s, Old Malton, on the River Derwent
Untraced Works
York: Pavement, Looking towards All Saints
Private Collection
Footnotes
- 1 The drawing at Hull (W305) is substantially larger (31.5 × 47.7 cm, 12 ⅜ × 18 ¾ in) and includes a thin tree to the right (Wright, 2002, p.189).
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About this Work
This work is known only from a black and white photograph dating from its last appearance in public, a sale in 1949, and consequently it has not been possible to confirm the attribution to Girtin. There is also no evidence that Girtin ever visited the town of Hull, though it is possible that he stopped off there during his 1796 tour to Yorkshire and further north. However, this work, if it is by Girtin, would appear to date on stylistic grounds from earlier, when the artist was still working under the influence of his master, Edward Dayes (1763–1804), in which case it would have been made after the work of another artist. The discovery of another watercolour of the same view has at least removed uncertainty about the identification of Hull as the subject. The Ferens Art Gallery in Hull has a watercolour attributed to the ‘English School, Early 19th Century’ which is inscribed on the back ‘Hull from the Ferriby road with a distant view down the Humber'. Meaning that the prominent perpendicular tower is that of Holy Trinity Church.1 In the absence of any further information relating to the work’s attribution, the best I can offer is the suggestion that it too is by the same unknown artist and that any similarity with Girtin’s work or the subjects that he painted is coincidental.
We know even less about a view of Scarborough that last appeared in public at the 1875 centenary exhibition of Girtin’s work (London, 1875, no.74ii). The work, which Thomas Girtin (1874–1960) and David Loshak thought came from the collection of the artist’s son, Thomas Calvert Girtin (1801–74), is said to have measured 8 ¼ × 12 ½ in (21 × 31.8 cm) (Girtin and Loshak, 1954, p.210). If the watercolour was by the artist, and that is a very big if, then it could be that the location was taken in during the 1796 tour as a part of coastal detour from York and/or Hull. Another even less likely option is that the artist travelled south from Sandsend and Whitby in the summer of 1800 after his stay in North Yorkshire at Mulgrave Castle.