- 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
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'
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
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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