This pencil sketch of the ruins of the east end of the priory church at Bolton Abbey in Yorkshire, seen from across the river Wharfe, is to be found on page thirty-eight of the Whitworth Book of Drawings (TG1323, TG1324 and TG1600–1625). It is one of three pencil drawings of the celebrated picturesque site that remain in the book (the others being TG1616 and TG1618), whilst at least two other outlines and two on-the-spot colour sketches of Bolton have been detached (including TG1614 and TG1615). This was presumably done by Girtin himself, who sold views such as this to sympathetic patrons for a guinea (£1 1s) for a pencil sketch and up to eight guineas (£8 8s) for a coloured drawing. The history of the Book of Drawings is complicated and confused, but, as the paper historian Peter Bower has argued, it initially took the form of a gathering of a number of different papers by Girtin, rather than being bought as a ready-made commodity, and it would have looked very different when used for sketching views such as this (Bower, 2002, p.141). What was initially an informal gathering of newly made on-the-spot sketches, together with some copies of earlier drawings, could then be used as a model book to show prospective customers compositions that they might choose to commission as watercolours. In that sense, this unassuming drawing was one of Girtin’s most successful, attracting orders for three slightly different versions: an upright composition measuring 35.8 × 32.2 cm (14 ⅛ × 12 ¾ in) (TG1676); an extended view showing more of the river to the right, sized 33 × 53.3 cm (13 × 21 in) (TG1677); and a work on a larger sheet of paper of 32.4 × 47.7 cm (12 ¾ × 18 ¾ in) (TG1678), which is dated 1800.

Girtin’s gathering of sheets of papers, which I have carefully not described as a sketchbook, appears to have been rearranged when it was bound into book form after his death. This, I suspect, was done at the behest of the artist’s brother John Girtin (1773–1821) who appropriated material from the artist’s studio after his death including ‘4 little Books partly of sketches and partly blank paper’, a combination that accords with the unusual makeup of the book (Chancery, Income and Expenses, 1804).¹ Despite this, at least some of the drawings of Bolton have retained their original positions and a run of four similar subjects, one of which crosses onto the previous sheet (TG1618), suggests that they were made together; Girtin, it is clear, was intent upon surveying the site from every angle, familiar and not. All of the evidence points to the summer of 1800 as the likeliest date of their production, a time when Girtin is documented as having stayed at Harewood House with his patron Edward Lascelles (1764–1814), and it appears that the artist made an excursion to Bolton at his behest to gather material for commissions, including On the River Wharfe at Bolton Abbey (TG1554).²It is perhaps telling that that unconventional image, which literally saw the artist turning his back on the famously picturesque ruins, attracted just the one commission, whilst this view proved to be one of the artist’s most popular subjects. Given this fact, it is not surprising that Girtin moved just a few metres away to make a different sketch of a subject that, by embowering the riverside ruins in verdant foliage, conformed to the perfect image of the sequestered monastic site. This was something of an illusion, however, as a reference to another view of the village confirms (TG1616). The trees shown here are thus used to hide more modern buildings, whilst the west end of the ruins, kept out of sight in this watercolour, was actually fitted up for use as the parish church.

(?) 1800

Bolton Abbey, from the River Wharfe

TG1616

(?) 1800

The East End of Bolton Priory Church

TG1618

(?) 1800

A Distant View of Bolton Abbey

TG1614

(?) 1800

An Interior View of the Choir of Bolton Priory

TG1615

1800 - 1801

Bolton Abbey: The East End of the Priory Church, from across the River Wharfe

TG1677

1800

Bolton Abbey: The East End of the Priory Church, from across the River Wharfe

TG1678

(?) 1800

The East End of Bolton Priory Church

TG1618

1800 - 1801

On the River Wharfe at Bolton Abbey

TG1554

(?) 1800

Bolton Abbey, from the River Wharfe

TG1616