- Description
-
- Creator(s)
- Thomas Girtin (1775-1802)
- Title
-
- Bolton Abbey: The East End of the Priory Church, from across the River Wharfe
- Date
- 1800 - 1801
- Medium and Support
- Graphite and watercolour on laid paper
- Dimensions
- 33 × 53.3 cm, 13 × 21 in
- Inscription
‘Girtin’ lower centre, by Thomas Girtin
- Object Type
- Studio Watercolour
- Subject Terms
- Monastic Ruins; River Scenery; Yorkshire View
-
- Collection
- Versions
-
Bolton Abbey: The East End of the Priory Church, from across the River Wharfe
(TG1617)
Bolton Abbey: The East End of the Priory Church, from across the River Wharfe (TG1676)
Bolton Abbey: The East End of the Priory Church, from across the River Wharfe (TG1678)
- Catalogue Number
- TG1677
- Girtin & Loshak Number
- 376iv as 'Bolton Abbey'; '1801'
- Description Source(s)
- Viewed in 2001 and June 2018
Provenance
J. Palser & Sons; bought by James Pyke Thompson (1846–97), 27 June 1890; Turner House Collection, Penarth; transferred to the Museum, 1921
Bibliography
Hardie, 1938–39, p.15
Place depicted
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

A Farmhouse, Said to Be near Newcastle-upon-Tyne
Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle-upon-Tyne

Kelso Abbey, from the River Tweed
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

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
Footnotes
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About this Work
This sadly faded work is one of three watercolours by Girtin that show the view across the river Wharfe to the ruined east end of the priory church of Bolton (the others being TG1676 and TG1678). The watercolour is based on a drawing in the Whitworth Book of Drawings (TG1617), though the composition has been cut to the left to omit the encroaching trees and extended to the right to include more of the river and its banks. The sketch was probably made in the summer of 1800 on an excursion from Harewood House, where Girtin was staying with his patron Edward Lascelles (1764–1814).1 Although Lascelles commissioned a large watercolour of an adjacent view, On the River Wharfe at Bolton Abbey (TG1554), it does not include the priory ruins, and he did not own any of the seven or so rather more conventional views of the site that Girtin painted. Working for the open market, rather than on commission, it seems that Girtin needed to produce a recognisable view of what, thanks to its location on the Wharfe, was one of the most celebrated monastic sites in the country, and the destination for many well-off travellers in search of picturesque scenery. The fact that Girtin found customers for three (albeit slightly different) versions of this view of the east end of the ruins, hemmed in by trees, suggests that collectors wanted a secluded image of a building that had deliberately been sited far from the haunts of humanity. As the Revd John Swete (1752–1821) noted on his tour of Yorkshire in 1790, sites of ‘Monastic Retirement’ were properly associated with ‘that Solemn Stillness which has a tendency to lead on the Mind to Meditation’, and this was clearly Girtin’s intention here, even though this was something of an illusion (quoted in Carter, Lindfield and Townshend, 2017, p.138). As a reference to Girtin’s view of the village of Bolton confirms (TG1616), the dramatic cut-off to the left is needed to obscure the fact that there are a number of modern buildings in the vicinity, whilst the west end of the ruins, out of sight here, was actually fitted up as the local parish church. The former problem is addressed in the other two versions of the composition by the encroaching trees, which, to the left in particular, help to enclose the scene to an almost claustrophobic degree. But here, in this more open view of ‘monastic Retirement’, the sense of stillness lacks the solemnity of the Eton College view (TG1676), and, instead, we are confronted by a different sort of tranquillity, the mood of torpor induced by a midday scene in summer, when even the farm animals rest and neither foliage nor water stir. In this, the most open of the versions, the stepping stones shown in the pencil sketch (but omitted elsewhere) link the near bank with the main part of the composition, so that we might imagine the artist crossing the Wharfe to make his original drawing.
The brighter mood of serenity depicted by Girtin is difficult to fully appreciate today in a work that has suffered from differential fading that has affected the balance of colour. Much of the foliage has been stripped of its green colour, and the clouds have lost the grey tones that would have given them depth, but the artist must have used two different blue and yellow pigments, one stable and the other evanescent, since some of the greens have remained along with some areas of blue. As a result, the overall effect of the work is patchy – good in parts and overly warm in others. Underlying pencil work has become too visible as well, and there are passages of very crude painting (in the middle ground, for instance) that would seem to be too poor to be by Girtin, except for the fact that they are just the underpainting of areas that would have been transformed by thin washes of colour that have been lost. There is absolutely no question about the attribution of the work to Girtin, therefore.
The watercolour was etched by Letitia Byrne (1779–1849) and published in 1807 as part of Finished Etchings of Picturesque Views … after Drawings by various Masters (see the print after, above). A contemporary review noted that the etchings ‘have a delicacy and softness which is extremely attractive, and in the general effect are peculiarly clear and picturesque’.2
1800 - 1801
Bolton Abbey: The East End of the Priory Church, from across the River Wharfe
TG1676
1800
Bolton Abbey: The East End of the Priory Church, from across the River Wharfe
TG1678
(?) 1800
Bolton Abbey: The East End of the Priory Church, from across the River Wharfe
TG1617
1800 - 1801
On the River Wharfe at Bolton Abbey
TG1554
(?) 1800
Bolton Abbey, from the River Wharfe
TG1616
1800 - 1801
Bolton Abbey: The East End of the Priory Church, from across the River Wharfe
TG1676