- Description
-
- Creator(s)
- Thomas Girtin (1775-1802)
- Title
-
- A Distant View of Ripon Minster, from the River Skell
- Date
- 1796 - 1797
- Medium and Support
- Graphite and watercolour on paper
- Dimensions
- 8.9 × 14 cm, 3 ½ × 5 ½ in
- Inscription
‘Rippon Minster York / Girtin’ on the back
- Object Type
- Colour Sketch: Studio Work
- Subject Terms
- Gothic Architecture: Cathedral View; River Scenery; Yorkshire View
Provenance
Spink & Son Ltd, London; Sotheby’s, 8 July 1982, lot 71 as 'Ripon Minster from the River Skell, Yorkshire', £990
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
Revisions & Feedback
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About this Work
This distant view of Ripon Minster from the river Skell bears at least some of the marks of being a sketch coloured on the spot, being small in scale and evidently created with great dispatch, and there is also some evidence in the sky of the artist having lost control over some of his washes – always a potent sign of a work being created away from the more controlled studio environment. However, compared to sketches from the 1796 northern tour that were undoubtedly worked from nature, including the monochrome study of Lindisfarne Priory (TG1105) and the more colourful view of Warkworth Hermitage (TG1095), this feels more carefully studied and complete. It is a close call indeed, but on balance I suspect that this work was fabricated in the studio on Girtin’s return from his Yorkshire visit in 1796 in order to meet the market for a small sketch-like commodity suited to the portfolios of his earliest patrons and collectors. The crucial comparison here is with the view of Pegwell Bay (TG0372), which is dated 1796 but which could not have been coloured on the spot as Girtin did not travel to the Kent coast in that year, or in all probability ever. The treatment of the sky and the reflections in the water in both works may suggest a speedy production, but the uniform way that the watercolours are finished, combined with the manner in which cattle in one, and figures in the other, have been carefully placed within the composition, suggests the deliberation associated with the studio work. The dated watercolour of Pegwell Bay, a subject that Girtin could not have coloured on the spot in 1796, helps us to identify a significant group of small drawings that, though they purport to have been worked from nature, must have been derived from sketches made in the field in that year. Works such as this view of Ripon, together with Bothal Castle (TG1089) and Seaton Sluice (TG1088), therefore have a claim to being the first examples of a new kind of commodity, a pseudo-sketch, which, I suggest, was pioneered by Girtin.
With no inscription or date to help, it is very difficult if not impossible to prove that a watercolour was coloured on the spot, and indeed that is the point; a skilful practitioner can blur the distinctions between a studio work and a sketch at will. In the case of this view of Ripon Minster, seen from the river Skell to the south east, there is the further complicating factor that we are not entirely sure that the artist visited Ripon in 1796. There is another sketch-like depiction of exactly the same view that appears to be from roughly the same time as this small watercolour (TG1054), but the other views of the town each date from 1800 (TG1659 and TG1660) or 1801 (TG1665), possibly suggesting that Girtin visited Ripon again in 1799 or 1800 on return visits to Yorkshire. I am aware, therefore, that the main evidence we have that Girtin visited the city in 1796 is that two sketch-like watercolours resemble the outcomes of other drawings made on that trip, and that this judgement has had to be made on the basis of two black and white photographs. It is entirely possible, therefore, that with new evidence to hand, both the date of this work and its function may need to be revisited.
(?) 1796
Lindisfarne: An Interior View of the Ruins of the Priory Church
TG1105
(?) 1796
Warkworth Hermitage
TG1095
1796
Pegwell Bay, near Ramsgate
TG0372
1796 - 1797
Bothal Castle, from the River Wansbeck
TG1089
1796 - 1797
Seaton Sluice
TG1088
1797 - 1798
A Distant View of Ripon Minster, from the River Skell
TG1054
1800
Ripon Minster, with Skellgate Bridge
TG1659
1800
Ripon Minster, with Skellgate Bridge
TG1660
1800 - 1810
A Distant View of Ripon Minster, from the River Skell
TG1665