- 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, 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, Yorkshire

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 Museum & 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

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, 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; An Unidentified Hilly Landscape
Birmingham Museum & 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, 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

Dryburgh Abbey: The South Transept Looking North
Private Collection, Yorkshire

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

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
Private Collection

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 Art Gallery, Sheffield

St Mary’s, Old Malton, on the River Derwent
Untraced Works

York: Pavement, Looking towards All Saints
Private Collection
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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. This presupposes that the work actually shows Hull. Though the port was indeed dominated by a perpendicular tower similar to that shown here, Holy Trinity Church, the identification is otherwise unsubstantiated. In the absence of any further information, the best I can offer is the suggestion that the work is by an unknown artist and that any similarity with Girtin’s work or the subjects that he painted is probably a matter of coincidence.
We know even less about a view of Scarborough that last appeared in public at the 1875 centenary exhibition of Girtin’s work (Exhibitions: 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.