- Description
-
- Creator(s)
- Thomas Girtin (1775-1802)
- Title
-
- An Unidentified Ruin next to a Bridge over a Stream, Said to Be Furness Abbey
- Date
- (?) 1800
- Medium and Support
- Graphite and watercolour on laid paper
- Dimensions
- 31.4 × 47.5 cm, 12 ⅜ × 18 ¾ in
- Object Type
- Unfinished Studio Watercolour
- Subject Terms
- Monastic Ruins; River Scenery; Unidentified Topographical View
-
- Collection
- Catalogue Number
- TG1529
- Girtin & Loshak Number
- 356 as 'Furness Abbey, Lancashire ... Done on the spot, unfinished'; '1800'
- Description Source(s)
- Viewed in 2001
Provenance
Sir James Thomas Knowles (1831–1908); his posthumous sale, Christie's, 28 May 1908, lot 262 as 'Landscape Studies (5)'; bought by 'Palser', £16; J. Palser & Sons (stock no.17533); bought by the Gallery, 15 December 1918
Bibliography
Girtin and Loshak, 1954, p.83
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
Even after many years of thinking about this ‘very fine work’, as Thomas Girtin (1874–1960) and David Loshak described the unidentified ruin, it still perplexes me on a number of counts (Girtin and Loshak, 1954, pp.83 and 183). The one thing I am sure about, though, is that it does not represent Furness Abbey in the Lake District, a region that Girtin and Loshak wrongly claimed the artist visited in 1800 and again in 1801 (Girtin and Loshak, 1954, pp.40–41). Thus, not only is it now clear that all of Girtin’s Lake District subjects either were made after the work of other artists or have been misidentified, but also the ruins shown alongside a river bear no resemblance to Furness. The fact that the work does not depict Furness does not necessarily invalidate Girtin and Loshak’s claim that it is ‘an outdoor sketch’ done ‘on the spot’, however; indeed, if anything this claim is strengthened by the knowledge that the work was not copied from another artist. Moreover, there are a number of signs in the work that are commonly associated with sketches made from nature, ranging from the limited palette worked over a rapid pencil sketch to the way in which there is a loss of control over the washes in the foreground to the right, as well as the absence of a sky, all of which suggested to the authors of the catalogue of Girtin’s works that this is not ‘an incomplete studio production’. Against this, though, is the fact that the artist clearly left a space for a significant group of cattle and a drover to be added, and, as the example of St Ann’s Gate, Salisbury (TG1756) indicates, this is an unequivocal sign of an unfinished studio work. The degree of forethought and planning involved in leaving an area clear to be subsequently worked up is incompatible with the rapid character of sketching in the field, and, on balance, I am therefore increasingly happy to accept that the work was indeed abandoned unfinished, and that it could have been taken to completion in the studio, with the artist’s attention returning to the foreground, the sky and the figures. It is probably the case, therefore, that the watercolour’s faded condition has made it look more sketch-like, and that the difficulty in establishing the work’s status reflects an increasing convergence, as Girtin’s career progressed, between the on-the-spot sketch and the studio production.
Establishing what the work is not helps us a little with the outstanding questions about it – namely, its date and subject. Extensive research into the latter has sadly still not come up with a satisfactory identification for the ruined riverside medieval fragment shown here, though the ruin does bear some resemblance to the gatehouse of Roche Abbey in Yorkshire. I suspect that it will eventually be possible to identify the location because it would have been very uncharacteristic of Girtin to either invent a scene or significantly alter a location. Indeed, if the watercolour dates from after one of his later tours, it may be that we have not been able to trace the subject because the artist deliberately chose an obscure corner of an otherwise well-known location, and for that reason I have suggested a date of around 1800.
Similar problems are posed by another faded watercolour of unidentified ruins (see figure 1). The subject, combined with the panoramic format and a signature to the left which has been altered to read 'Turner 1796' all suggest an attribution to Girtin, though the work is currently listed as by an unknown follower working in his style. The opportunity to view the work has confirmed the probability that the work is by Girtin in spite of its very poor condition and it will be added to this catalogue as TG1531 when the site is next updated in March 2024.
(?) 1802
St Ann’s Gate, Salisbury
TG1756
1799 - 1800
TG1531