- Description
-
- Creator(s)
- Thomas Girtin (1775-1802)
- Title
-
- A Wharf with Shipping, Possibly at Bristol
- Date
- 1800
- Medium and Support
- Graphite and watercolour on laid paper
- Dimensions
- 30.5 × 52 cm, 12 × 20 ½ in
- Inscription
‘Girtin 1800’ lower right, by Thomas Girtin
- Object Type
- Studio Watercolour
- Subject Terms
- Docks and Canals; Somerset and Bristol
-
- Collection
- Versions
-
A Wharf with Shipping, Possibly at Bristol
(TG1288)
- Catalogue Number
- TG1728
- Description Source(s)
- Auction Catalogue
Provenance
John Wheeldon Barnes; his sale, Christie’s, 7 April 1894, lot 17 as 'View on the Coast, with shipbuilding yard ... 1800'; bought by 'Agnew', £8; Thos. Agnew & Sons (stock no.1038); bought by C. W. Grey, 8 December 1896, £21; then by descent to A. C. Grey; Sotheby’s, 15 March 1990, lot 84 as 'A Boatyard by an Estuary', £9,900; the Leger Galleries, London; Celia and David Hilliard; presented to the Institute, 1999
Exhibition History
Agnew’s, 1895 as ’The Boat-yard’ (catalogue untraced); Agnew’s, 1896, no.145 as ’Mouth of the Thames’
Bibliography
Museum Website as 'A Boatyard at the Mouth of an Estuary' (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 badly faded watercolour of an unidentified coastal boatyard with a vessel being caulked on the beach is based on a drawing that appears to have been made on Girtin’s tour of the West Country in 1797 (TG1288). The sketch has been identified as showing a scene at Bristol, and, though it certainly resembles a number of other harbour and shipping scenes that the artist sketched in the nation’s second largest port (such as TG1286), no conclusive evidence has been found to confirm this (Morris, 1986, p.50). Indeed, the expanse of water shown to the left here is much more substantial than the narrow stretch of the Avon at Bristol, though it is of course possible that the pencil drawing was made there and that the estuary setting, which is absent in the sketch, was improvised in the studio. That is certainly a more credible option than the earlier suggestion that the boatyard was located on the Thames estuary, an area that Girtin is not known to have visited. Indeed, the tour of the West Country was just about the only occasion on which the artist showed any interest in shipping and nautical subjects, and, though other stops on the trip – at Shaldon (TG1263) and Exeter (TG1261) on the south coast, and at Instow in north Devon (TG1736) – might have provided similar opportunities, Bristol still remains the likeliest location for this scene.
The thought that this work showed a Bristol scene was initially strengthened by the fact that it has the same dimensions as Bristol Harbour, with St Mary Redcliffe in the Distance (TG1727) (30.5 × 51.4 cm, 12 × 20 ¼ in), suggesting that they might have been conceived as a pair. However, although Girtin was occasionally commissioned to produce pairs of subjects earlier in his career, both of these watercolours are dated 1800, and, though there are no details about the early provenance of either, they were almost certainly not executed on request for a patron. Indeed, there is good evidence that they were actually made as part of a large batch of watercolours for the artist’s representative, Samuel William Reynolds (1773–1835), whose role was to sell Girtin’s works on the open market acting somewhere between an agent and a dealer. Both thus conform to the larger standard size that Girtin supplied to Reynolds, and both are dated 1800, the first year of their commercial arrangement. The fact that this watercolour is dated is particularly telling, since prior to 1800 only a handful of Girtin’s works are inscribed with the date of their production, whilst this number rose to over thirty in that year and twenty in the following. It seems that this change in the artist’s practice was governed by the need to prove to the market that his agent was not hawking old, unsold stock. Returning to his sketches from the 1797 trip in 1800, Girtin would therefore have chosen these shipping subjects to elaborate on a substantial scale because he believed that they would sell as examples of his skill, and the precise location of a scene, certainly in this case, was of little significance.
There is one final sad link between this view and the group of works that Girtin produced for his agent, namely its poor faded condition, which suggests that, as in so many of the late works, Girtin employed a palette that included fugitive pigments such as gamboge for yellow and indigo for blue. The strong central band that includes the boatyard has survived with its earth pigments largely unchanged, and this has disguised the fact that the whole of the sky (a mix of grey clouds and blue) and large areas of green vegetation have either been lost completely or reduced to a dull monochrome.
(?) 1797
A Wharf with Shipping, Possibly at Bristol
TG1288
(?) 1797
Bristol: St Mary Redcliffe, from the Harbour
TG1286
1797 - 1798
Shaldon, Seen from Teignmouth
TG1263
1799 - 1800
On the River Exe, Exeter
TG1261
(?) 1800
On the River Taw, North Devon, Looking from Braunton Marsh towards Instow and Appledore
TG1736
1800
Bristol Harbour, with St Mary Redcliffe in the Distance
TG1727