- Description
-
- Creator(s)
- (?) Thomas Girtin (1775-1802)
- Title
-
- Bridgnorth, on the River Severn
- Date
- (?) 1798
- Medium and Support
- Graphite and watercolour on laid paper (card)
- Dimensions
- 7.6 × 12 cm, 3 × 4 ¾ in
- Object Type
- Monro School Copy
- Subject Terms
- River Scenery; Shropshire View
-
- Catalogue Number
- TG0906
- Girtin & Loshak Number
- 404 as 'Unidentified River Scene ... may be by Girtin'; 'Perhaps 1800'
- Description Source(s)
- Viewed in 2001
Provenance
Gilbert Davis (1899–1983); bought from him by the Gallery, 1959
Bibliography
Warrell, 2019, p.20; Warrell, 2025, no.29
Place depicted
Other entries in Topography without Travel:
The British Landscape at Second Hand

Windsor Castle, from the River Thames
Untraced Works

Windsor Castle: The Norman Gateway and the Round Tower, with Part of the Queen's Lodge
Clark Art Institute, Williamstown

The Interior of Tintern Abbey, Showing the Choir and North Transept
Blackburn Museum and Art Gallery

A View in Windsor Great Park with Deer
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

An Ancient House, Possibly in Sussex
Private Collection

The Interior of Tintern Abbey, Looking towards the West Window from the Choir
Norwich Castle Museum and Art Gallery

The Ruins of Newark Priory Church
Tate, London

Lancaster Castle and Priory Church, Seen with the Old Bridge over the River Lune
Private Collection

Barnard Castle and Bridge, from the River Tees
Tate, London

The Ruined West Front of Dunbrody Abbey Church, County Wexford, Ireland
Tate, London

The Refectory of Walsingham Priory
British Museum, London

The Ruined East End of Walsingham Priory Church
Tate, London

The West Tower of Rumburgh Priory Church
Tate, London

Dumbarton Rock, from the North
Tate, London

Part of the Ruins of Middleham Castle
Tate, London

Kidwelly Church, with the Castle Beyond
Tate, London

Kelso Abbey, from the North West
Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford

The Keep, Portchester Castle, from the North East
Tate, London

The Keep of Rochester Castle, from the South East
Tate, London

Part of the Ruins of Middleham Castle
Tate, London

Margam Abbey Church, from the North West
Tate, London

The Ruined East End of Walsingham Priory Church
Tate, London

The Ruins of the Holy Ghost Chapel, Basingstoke
Tate, London

The Medieval Kitchen, Stanton Harcourt
Tate, London

Part of the Ruins of Lewes Castle, from the West
Tate, London

Glasgow High Street, Looking towards the Cathedral
Tate, London

The Keep of Hedingham Castle, from the East
Tate, London

The South Transept, Much Wenlock Priory Church
Tate, London

Newport Castle, Monmouthshire
Private Collection

Portchester Castle, from the Outer Bailey
Tate, London

The Refectory of Walsingham Priory
Tate, London

An Unidentified Church close to a Road
British Museum, London

The Keep of Hedingham Castle, from the South West
Tate, London

Kirkstall Abbey, from the North West
Tate, London

Kirkstall Abbey, from the North West
Tate, London

The Ruined Gateway of Mettingham Castle
Tate, London

The Keep of Rochester Castle, Seen from outside the Walls
Tate, London

Tintern Abbey, from the River Wye
Private Collection

Tintern Abbey: The View from the Nave
Private Collection

The Market at Aberystwyth
Victoria and Albert Museum, London

Lancaster Castle, from the River Lune
Tate, London

Lancaster Castle, from the River Lune
Tate, London

Lancaster Priory Church, Seen with the Old Bridge over the River Lune
Tate, London

Buttermere Bridge, from the Fish Inn
Tate, London

The Medieval Kitchen, Stanton Harcourt
Private Collection, Norfolk

Rochester Cathedral, from the North East, with the Castle Beyond
Tate, London

Glasgow High Street: Looking towards the Cathedral
Tate, London

A Distant View of Corfe Castle
Tate, London

Chichester Cathedral, from the South West
Tate, London

The Gatehouse of Amberley Castle
Tate, London

A Lake and Mountains, Possibly in the Lake District
Tate, London

A Lake and Mountains, Possibly in the Lake District
Tate, London

An Unidentified View across a Lake, or along a Coast
Tate, London

A Road by a Pond, with a Church in the Distance
Tate, London

A Road by a Pond, with a Church in the Distance
British Museum, London

A Church Tower amongst Trees, with a Cart in the Foreground
British Museum, London

An Unidentified Landscape, with a Church amongst Trees
Tate, London

Trees near a Lake or River, at Twilight
Tate, London

A Hilly Landscape, with a Two-Arched Bridge
Private Collection

A Distant View of Tynemouth Priory, from the Sea
Tate, London

An Upland Landscape, Possibly in Northumberland
Private Collection

A Bridge in the Lake District, Possibly Grange Bridge, Borrowdale
Private Collection

Bridgnorth, on the River Severn
The Huntington Library, Art Museum and Botanical Gardens, San Marino

Knaresborough, from the River Nidd
Private Collection
Revisions & Feedback
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About this Work
This view of Bridgnorth on the river Severn in Shropshire is closely related to a group of twenty or so small watercolours on card that are now in the Turner Bequest at Tate Britain (two others being TG0235 and TG0344). Even though the early provenance of this watercolour cannot be established, its unusually small size, its sketch-like appearance and the nature of its support all suggest that it was one of the sixty ‘Coloured Drawings on Cards’ sold from the collection of Dr Thomas Monro (1759–1833), some of which were acquired by Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775–1851) (Christie’s, 7 May 1808, lots 60 and 61; Christie’s, 26 June 1833, lots 80–83). However, unlike the bulk of those sketches, which were made after the artist’s pencil outlines and which in turn were copied from drawings either by Girtin’s first significant patron, the amateur artist and antiquarian James Moore (1762–99), or his master Edward Dayes (1763–1804), this composition could not have been taken from this secondary source. Moore visited Shropshire in 1791, but Thomas Telford's new church of St Mary Magdalene, which features prominently in this view, was not consecrated until 1796.
An alternative scenario is that the composition was sketched by Girtin during the course of his 1798 trip to North Wales and that he subsequently adapted it to the small-scale, sketchy format of the Monro cards. It is reasonably certain that Girtin visited Bridgnorth in that year as it was on that trip that he in all probability made the pencil drawing of the old bridge (TG1357) that formed the basis of one of his last, finest works (TG1755). To take this view, south towards the church, Girtin would only have needed to turn his seat around through 180 degrees. Given that the work can, on stylistic grounds, be roughly dated to 1798, some of the uncertainty about the attribution expressed by Thomas Girtin (1874–1960) and David Loshak in their 1954 catalogue would therefore seem to be allayed (Girtin and Loshak, 1954, p.189).
However, the attribution of the work remains problematic because of the recognition that Girtin’s contemporary and collaborator at Monro’s house, Turner, also produced a watercolour based on the same composition (see figure 1) and which includes similarly placed groups of figures. It is possible that Turner saw the small watercolour at Monro’s house and that he used the composition for his larger more carefulkly worked watercolour. That would have been very uncharacteristic of Turner’s practice, however, especially as he visited Bridgnorth himself in 1794, but perhaps his commission was to depict the new church and its situation on the river and Girtin’s drawing provided him with up-to-date material that he could use to carry this out. Alternatively, it is also possible that the two watercolours are by the same artist, and, given that there is less of a question about the attribution of the larger work to Turner, that would rule out Girtin. The two artists worked so closely at this time and shared so many stylistic traits that it is not impossible that Turner was the author of this work. However, on balance, I am inclined to the view that, although the bulk of the watercolours on card that Girtin painted for Monro were made after the works of others, a couple at least, including a distant prospect of Tynemouth Priory (TG0850), were made at a later date from his own on-the-spot sketches. As a result, they display a quite different sketch aesthetic, which includes a new emphasis on weather and light effects, as seen here.
1795 - 1796
The Refectory of Walsingham Priory
TG0235
1795 - 1796
A Distant View of Marlow, from the River Thames
TG0344
(?) 1798
The Old Severn Bridge at Bridgnorth
TG1357
1802
Bridgnorth
TG1755
1796 - 1797
A Distant View of Tynemouth Priory, from the Sea
TG0850