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

An Alpine Valley, near Chiavenna

1794 - 1797

Primary Image: TG0514: Thomas Girtin (1775–1802) and Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775–1851), after (?) John Robert Cozens (1752–97), An Alpine Valley, near Chiavenna, 1794–97, graphite and watercolour on wove paper, 24 × 37 cm, 9 ⁷⁄₁₆ × 14 ⁹⁄₁₆ in. Birmingham Museums & Art Gallery (1953P408).

Photo courtesy of Birmingham Museums Trust (All Rights Reserved)

Description
Creator(s)
Thomas Girtin (1775-1802) and Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775-1851) after (?) John Robert Cozens (1752-1797)
Title
  • An Alpine Valley, near Chiavenna
Date
1794 - 1797
Medium and Support
Graphite and watercolour on wove paper
Dimensions
24 × 37 cm, 9 ⁷⁄₁₆ × 14 ⁹⁄₁₆ in
Inscription

'Near Chiavenna in the Grisons' on the back in pencil, in another hand, presumably copying Girtin's original inscription

Object Type
Collaborations; Monro School Copy
Subject Terms
Italian View: The North; Hills and Mountains

Collection
Catalogue Number
TG0514
Description Source(s)
Viewed in June 2024

Provenance

Dr Thomas Monro (1759–1833); his posthumous sale, possibly Christie’s, 28 June 1833, lot 80 as 'A scrap-book, containing 66 sketches in Switzerland, in blue and Indian ink' by 'Turner'; bought by 'Hixon', £21 11s 6d; ... Thos. Agnew & Sons, 1945 (stock no.11314); bought by James Leslie Wright (1862–1954); presented to the Museum, 1953

Exhibition History

Agnew's, 1945, no.73 as 'The Mountain Pass' by Joseph Mallord William Turner, £150; London, 1949, no.226 as 'Mountain Pass' by Joseph Mallord William Turner; Birmingham, 2010, no.21 as ’A Mountain Pass ... Attributed to John Henderson’

Bibliography

Rose, 1980, p.61 as 'Mountain Pass' by Joseph Mallord William Turner; Birmingham Museums Online as 'A Mountain Pass ... Attributed to: John Henderson' (accessed 21 February 2024)

About this Work

This view taken in the vicinity of Chiavenna in northern Italy displays many of the signs that mark the unique collaboration between Girtin and his contemporary Joseph Mallord William Turner (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).

It has finally been possible to identify the subject of a work, hitherto referred to as a ‘Mountain Pass’, from an inscription on the back of the drawing. 'Near Chiavenna in the Grisons’ is not in Girtin’s hand, but it is likely to have been copied from his original inscription as it repeats the same formula found on other subjects taken in the area such as A Ravine in the Viamala, between Chur and Chiavenna (TG0495) and A Bridge over a Waterfall, near Chiavenna (TG0497), which use the historical name for a region now known as Graubünden. John Robert Cozens (1752–97) also inscribed Near Chiavenna, Lake Como in the Distance (see TG0492 figure 1) in exactly the same way, suggesting in turn that it was a lost sketch that he made in September 1776 on the way to the Italian peninsular that was Girtin’s source. Only one of Cozens’ sketches from 1776 has survived, but others from a year later are consistently large in scale as here and are generally little more than summary outlines (see TG0589 figure 1), which would have needed careful interpretation to create the ‘finished drawings’ that Monro required for his collection. In all, there are as many as sixty Monro School views of the Alpine scenery of France, Switzerland and northern Italy that can, with varying degrees of certainty, be associated with Cozens’ first trip to the Continent in 1776.

This work was acquired as by Turner, but the attribution was questioned by Andrew Wilton, who thought that the colouring was crude; he suggested that it was made by John Henderson (1764–1843) (recorded in the object file at Birmingham Museums & Art Gallery). However, having finally had the opportunity to view the work, this now strikes me as being some way off the mark. The quality of the draughtsmanship is certainly beyond the capability of Henderson and the fluent and inventive use of line seems entirely typical of Girtin’s work. Moreover, although I too initially had some doubts about the strength of the washes of colour and inserted a question mark ahead of Turner’s name, I now think that the process of colouring was left off incomplete. There are thus a number of areas which are left untouched and I suspect that a little more work by Turner would have resulted in a more coherent sense of space. It is certainly not the strongest of the views of alpine scenery, but it is significantly better than the typical efforts of anonymous copyies of Monro School subjects such as A Steep-Sided Valley, near Sterzing, Tyrol (see TG0702 figure 1).

1794 - 1797

A Ravine in the Viamala, between Chur and Chiavenna

TG0495

1794 - 1797

A Bridge over a Waterfall, near Chiavenna

TG0497

1794 - 1797

The Lake of Mezzola, near Chiavenna, Lake Como in the Distance

TG0492

1794 - 1797

Tivoli: ‘The Temple of the Sibyl’, Seen from Below

TG0589

1794 - 1797

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

TG0702

by Greg Smith

Place depicted

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