This is the earlier of two watercolours (the other being TG1069) showing the ruins of Barnard Castle from the north bank of the river Tees, with the soon-to-be-demolished chapel just about visible on the bridge to the right. Both works appear to have been based on a sketch made on the spot during Girtin’s first independent tour, to the northern counties and the Scottish Borders in 1796. The untraced sketch would have postdated another pencil drawing, Barnard Castle and Bridge, from the River Tees (TG0232), which Girtin made at the home of his early patron Dr Thomas Monro (1759–1833) and which was almost certainly copied from the work of another artist, possibly Thomas Hearne (1744–1817). In contrast, this view, which was taken from further upriver, shows the castle from a different angle and includes less of the buildings to the right, and it must therefore have been based on the untraced on-the-spot sketch, rather than the drawing made for Monro, though the process of producing the copy no doubt influenced Girtin’s choice of viewpoint when he finally got to visit the location and sketch it at first hand. That said, it is not clear why he chose to depict the river as such a deep blue when the Tees at this point takes on a distinctive brownish colour due to the underlying rocks.

The watercolour was reproduced as an aquatint and published in 1800 as part of Four Views from Nature: From Drawings by Mr. Girtin (see print after TG1068). Two of the other watercolours used by the publisher, Rudolph Ackermann (1764–1834), survive: York Minster, from the South East, Layerthorpe Bridge and Postern to the Right (TG1051) and Etal Castle (TG1115). Although the three drawings are slightly different in size, and this work alone was painted on a laid paper, they possess a stylistic unity that suggests that they were produced at the same time, presumably as a commission. Given that all four of the ‘Views from Nature’ are of subjects that Girtin sketched during his 1796 tour, it follows that the drawings were made soon after his return – indeed, the style of the watercolours is consistent with a dating of say 1796–97, whilst the second version of Barnard Castle, from the River Tees is clearly from later. That said, I wonder whether the fact that the works were not published until 1800 is significant, and that the rapid and economical way in which the washes of a limited colour range are deployed might not be the result of an older artist tailoring his works to the limitations of the reproductive print trade. A commission for a watercolour for reproduction as an aquatint might have been expected to contain no more detail than was absolutely necessary for the task, and this might explain the relatively crude quality of these works, rather than reflect an earlier date of production. A clearly visible fingerprint in trees to the left does suggest a lackadaisical attitude to the work, though in the end I am minded to stick with an earlier date for all three watercolours and attribute the time gap between their execution and publication to the sorts of delays that were common in the reproductive print trade.

(?) 1800

Barnard Castle, from the River Tees

TG1069

1794 - 1795

Barnard Castle and Bridge, from the River Tees

TG0232

1796 - 1797

Barnard Castle, from the River Tees

TG1068

1796 - 1797

York Minster, from the South East, Layerthorpe Bridge and Postern to the Right

TG1051

1796 - 1797

Etal Castle

TG1115