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Works Thomas Girtin

An Exterior View of the Ruins of Lindisfarne Priory Church

1797 - 1798

Primary Image: TG1110: Thomas Girtin (1775–1802), An Exterior View of the Ruins of Lindisfarne Priory Church, 1797–98, graphite and watercolour on paper, 31.5 × 21.5 cm, 12 ⅜ × 8 ½ in. Private Collection.

Photo courtesy of Christie's (All Rights Reserved)

Description
Creator(s)
Thomas Girtin (1775-1802)
Title
  • An Exterior View of the Ruins of Lindisfarne Priory Church
Date
1797 - 1798
Medium and Support
Graphite and watercolour on paper
Dimensions
31.5 × 21.5 cm, 12 ⅜ × 8 ½ in
Object Type
Studio Watercolour
Subject Terms
Durham and Northumberland; Monastic Ruins

Collection
Versions
An Exterior View of the Ruins of Lindisfarne Priory Church (TG1109)
An Exterior View of the Ruins of Lindisfarne Priory Church (TG1111)
Catalogue Number
TG1110
Description Source(s)
Auction Catalogue

Provenance

J. Palser & Sons; sold 12 March 1931; ... J. Palser & Sons ... the Property of a Lady; her sale, Christie’s, 12 July 1994, lot 59, £7,475

Exhibition History

Palser Gallery, 1933, no.6 as ’Glastonbury Abbey’, 80 gns; Cotswold Gallery, 1935, no.22

Bibliography

Girtin and Loshak, 1954, p.208 as 'Glastonbury', from the collection of 'H. B. Rhodes'

About this Work

This view looking east along the south flank of the ruins of the priory church at Lindisfarne, with the castle in the distance, is the earliest of two studio works (the other being TG1111) that were based on an on-the-spot colour sketch that Girtin made in 1796 on his northern tour (TG1109). Lindisfarne Priory, on Holy Island, off the Northumberland Coast is the focus of three surviving on-the-spot sketches by Girtin (TG1105, TG1109 and TG1112). From these he executed studio watercolours of five different compositions, making the site one of the most significant subjects that he studied on the 1796 tour. The on-the-spot sketches were mainly worked in simple monochrome washes, but, uniquely for an architectural subject, the sketch for this view employed full colour worked with equal emphasis across the whole sheet. It seems that Girtin wished to record the distinctive red colour of the sandstone used in the priory’s construction, and he replicated this detail in the two Lindisfarne subjects that were shown at the Royal Academy’s annual exhibition in 1797 (TG1107 and TG1108) (Exhibitions: Royal Academy, London, 1797, nos.434 and 763) – though, ironically, in a work that was actually based on the coloured sketch, he here adopted a different, cooler tonality.

Departing from such a crucial detail recorded in the original sketch might suggest a later date for this view of Lindisfarne, but the stylistic evidence points to just a year or so after the northern tour. This was about the same time that Girtin produced a slightly larger view of the interior of the ruins looking in the opposite direction (TG1106), and, though the difference in size means that the works were probably not created as a pair, they have much in common. In particular, they display the same hybrid mix of a sketch and a studio aesthetic so that, though they both appear to have been created in haste to capture a transient effect, they are equally the product of a degree of careful deliberation and planning. The use of complex layers of wash in the foreground and for the areas of masonry in the shade to the left would have required the artist to leave the work to dry if it were not to display the multiple blottings that characterise the on-the-spot colour sketch on which it is based. Thus, unlike the earlier and larger view of the interior of the ruins of the priory church at Lindisfarne (TG1108), which might have been expected to hold its own on the walls of the Royal Academy as a framed object, this work was more likely destined for the portfolio of a collector who appreciated the informal qualities associated with the sketch made on the spot.

1800

An Exterior View of the Ruins of Lindisfarne Priory Church

TG1111

(?) 1796

An Exterior View of the Ruins of Lindisfarne Priory Church

TG1109

(?) 1796

Lindisfarne: An Interior View of the Ruins of the Priory Church

TG1105

(?) 1796

An Exterior View of the Ruins of Lindisfarne Priory Church

TG1109

(?) 1796

Lindisfarne Castle

TG1112

1797

An Interior View of the Ruins of Lindisfarne Priory Church

TG1107

1796 - 1797

Lindisfarne: The Nave and Crossing of the Priory Church

TG1108

1797 - 1798

Lindisfarne: An Interior View of the Ruins of the Priory Church

TG1106

1796 - 1797

Lindisfarne: The Nave and Crossing of the Priory Church

TG1108

by Greg Smith

Place depicted

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