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Works Thomas Girtin and Joseph Mallord William Turner after (?) John Robert Cozens

A Steep-Sided Valley, Possibly in the Tyrol

1794 - 1797

 

Description
Creator(s)
Thomas Girtin (1775-1802) and Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775-1851) after (?) John Robert Cozens (1752-1797)
Title
  • A Steep-Sided Valley, Possibly in the Tyrol
Date
1794 - 1797
Medium and Support
Graphite, watercolour and scratching out on wove paper
Dimensions
24.8 × 38.4 cm, 9 ¾ × 15 ⅛ in
Inscription

'Original drawing by J.M.W. Turner R.A. | Bought of Mr. Henry Graves of 6 Pall Mall London who had it fom Dr. Munro. | JMM Pocock | Brighton' on the back in pen

Object Type
Collaborations; Monro School Copy
Subject Terms
Hills and Mountains; Unidentified Landscape

Collection
Catalogue Number
TG0762
Description Source(s)
Viewed in May 2025

Provenance

Dr Thomas Monro (1759–1833); his posthumous sale, Christie's, 27 June–2 July 1833, unknown lot; acquired by Moon, Boys and Graves; acquired from the latter by Dr Crawford J. Pocock (1840–90); Walker's Galleries; Herbert William Underdown (1864–1944); his sale, Sotheby's, 27 November 1924, lot 125 as ‘View of a Mountain Pass (probably a Scene in Haute Savoie) ... From Dr. Monro’s collection’, 'Unsold’ at £16 10s; his sale, Sotheby's, 7 July 1926, lot 87 as ‘An Alpine Valley’ by Joseph Mallord William Turner 'after Cozens', bought by ‘Lawson’ for £9 10s; Thomas Girtin (1874–1960); given to Tom Girtin (1913–94), c.1938; bought by John Baskett on behalf of Paul Mellon (1907–99), 1970; presented to the Center, 1975

Bibliography

Underdown, 1923, unpaginated, as by Joseph Mallord William Turner

About this Work

This view of an unidentified valley displays many of the signs that mark the unique collaboration between Girtin and his contemporary Joseph Mallord William (1775–1851) at the home of Dr Thomas Monro (1759–1833). Here they were employed across three winters, probably between 1794 and 1797, to make ‘finished drawings’ from the ‘Copies’ of the ‘outlines or unfinished drawings of Cozens’ and other artists, amateur and professional, either from Monro’s collection or lent for the purpose. As the two young artists later recalled, Girtin generally ‘drew in outlines and Turner washed in the effects’. ‘They went at 6 and staid till Ten’, which may account for the generally monochrome appearance of the works, and, as the diarist Joseph Farington (1747–1821) reported, Turner received ‘3s. 6d each night’, though ‘Girtin did not say what He had’ (Farington, Diary, 12 November 1798).1

The number of Monro School drawings of foreign subjects for which it has not been possible to find a location is surprisingly low, presumably because the sketches from which they were made, particularly those by Cozens, were generally inscribed and Girtin often transcribed the details at the same time as copying the outlines. In this case, however, although the jagged profile of the peaks overlooking a valley with a village and a round tower nestling in the bend of a river is quite distinctive, no location has suggested itself. The jagged peaks are, however, a characteristic feature of the Dolomites and the location is possibly somewhere in the Tyrol (now part of Italy) perhaps near to Sterzing in the valley of the Isarco. This was the subject of a sketch made by Cozens on his way to Italy in the summer of 1782 (see TG0702), though no comparable scene appears in the sketchbooks he used at this time. The Monro School copies generally replicate the dimensions of their source material and the larger format of this watercolour suggests that its origin, if it was in the work of Cozens, was instead a sketch made on his earlier trip to Italy when he worked on a larger scale. Few of the sketches Cozens made on this tour survive, however, and the problems we have with identifying this scene no doubt stem from this.

When this site first went online, and I was working only from a digital image, I catalogued the drawing as by an unknown artist working at Monro’s home. However, the opportunity to view the work at first hand has meant a rethink and I now consider it to be a characteristic example of Girtin and Turner working in collaboration. It is not one of their best works, but just enough of Girtin’s distinctive pencil work is visible to be reasonably sure of his involvement. The addition of the washes to the outline is arguably less convincing and the lack of depth and variety in the form of the slopes to the right is concerning. However, the manner in which the light picks out the settlement on the river is more assured and the integration of the foreground into the composition is well managed and so, on balance, a joint attribution to Girtin and Turner feels right.

1794 - 1797

A Church Tower in the Valley of the Isarco, near Sterzing, in the Tyrol

TG0702

by Greg Smith

Footnotes

  1. 1 The full diary entry, giving crucial details of the artists’ work at Monro’s house, is transcribed in the Documents section of the Archive (1798 – Item 2).

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