- Description
-
- Creator(s)
- Thomas Girtin (1775-1802)
- Title
-
- Buildings on the River Nidd, near Knaresborough
- Date
- 1800
- Medium and Support
- Graphite, watercolour and pen and ink on laid paper
- Dimensions
- 30.5 × 51.8 cm, 12 × 20 ⅜ in
- Inscription
‘Girtin 1800’ lower centre, by Thomas Girtin
- Object Type
- Studio Watercolour
- Subject Terms
- River Scenery; Yorkshire View
Provenance
Edward Lascelles (1764–1814); then by descent to Henry Lascelles, 4th Earl of Harewood (1824–92); his sale, possibly Christie's, 1 May 1858, lot 44 as 'Bethgellaert'; bought by 'Palser', £15 4s 6d; J. Palser & Sons; bought by Edward Cohen (1816–87), 1858 (lent to London, 1875); then by bequest to his niece, Annie Sophia Poulter (c.1846–1924); then by descent to Edward Alexander Poulter (1883–1973); J. Palser & Sons; bought by Frederick John Nettlefold (1867–1949), 30 July 1929, as 'Beddgelert'; Gilbert Davis (1899–1983); bought from him by the Gallery, 1954
Exhibition History
London, 1875, no.93 as ’Beddgellart’ or no.107 as ’River with Village and Cows’; Arts Council, 1949, no.36 as ’In Harewood Park’; Agnew’s, 1953a, no.101 as ’An Unidentified Yorkshire Village’
Bibliography
Grundy, 1937, vol.2, pp.128–29 as 'Beddgelert'; Mayne, 1949, pl.34 as 'River with Village and Cows'; Museum Website as 'In the Grounds of Harewood Park, Yorkshire (A Yorkshire Village by a River)' (Accessed 18/09/2022)
Place depicted
Other entries in Edward Lascelles and Harewood, Together with Other Houses of the Gentry
The Summer House in the Garden of Samuel Wood at Southgate
Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
Alnwick Castle, from Brizlee
Private Collection, Northumberland
Ships in a Harbour, Possibly at Bristol
Harewood House, Yorkshire
An Estuary Scene, Probably in the West Country
Harewood House, Yorkshire
A Mountain View, near Beddgelert
National Museum of Wales, Cardiff
A Circular Temple, Said to Be in Harewood Park
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
A Lake Scene with Cattle, Said to Be in Harewood Park
Private Collection
A Close View of Harewood House, from the South East
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
Harewood House, from the South West
Harewood House, Yorkshire
Harewood House, from the South East
Harewood House, Yorkshire
Buildings on the River Nidd, near Knaresborough
Toledo Museum of Art
Plumpton Rocks, near Knaresborough
Victoria and Albert Museum, London
On the River Wharfe at Bolton Abbey
Victoria and Albert Museum, London
A Reconstruction of the Elizabethan Wing of Moreton Corbet Castle
Private Collection
A Reconstruction of Moreton Corbet Castle, from the West
Private Collection
A Landscape with an Unidentified House
Blackburn Museum and Art Gallery
An Unidentified House in an Open Landscape
Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, Hobart
An Unidentified Small Country House or Lodge
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
The North Front of Chalfont Lodge, Seen from the Lake
Private Collection
The South Front of Chalfont Lodge, Seen from across the Lawn
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
The South Front of Chalfont Lodge, Seen from across the Lawn
Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery
Chalfont House, from the North East, with Fishermen Netting the Broadwater
Private Collection, Herefordshire
Chalfont House, from the North West
Private Collection, Herefordshire
Melville Castle
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
A Distant View of Arundel Castle, from the South
Private Collection, Sussex
A Lake Surrounded by Trees, Known as 'The Silent Pool'
Private Collection
A Lake Scene with Two Herons, Possibly in Cassiobury Park
Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery
Hatfield House, from the South East
British Museum, London
A House and Garden at Winster in Derbyshire
British Museum, London
A House at Winster
Victoria and Albert Museum, London
An Unidentified Georgian House, Said to Be Lobes Hill in Shropshire
Private Collection
A Distant View of a Castle, Said to Be Lowther in Westmorland
Private Collection
An Ornamental Ruin in a Park; A Tree on a Mound
British Museum, London
A Distant View of Knaresborough, from the South East
The Whitworth, University of Manchester
Guisborough Priory: The Ruined East End
National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh
Jedburgh from the River, with the Abbey Beyond
National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin
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About this Work
The subject of this very fine though little-known watercolour has hitherto either been misidentified or (latterly) been said to be unknown, though the fact that it appears to have been owned by Girtin’s key late patron Edward Lascelles (1764–1814) narrowed it down to a scene in Yorkshire. Certainly, the view does not show Beddgelert in North Wales, as it was thought to do when the work was sold from the collection of Lascelles’ descendants in 1858 (Exhibitions: Christie’s, 1 May 1858, lot 44). The work retained this erroneous title until an exhibition in 1949, when it was listed as ‘In Harewood Park’ (Exhibitions: Arts Council, 1949, no.36), though this was amended by Thomas Girtin (1874–1960) and David Loshak in their 1954 catalogue to ‘Unidentified Yorkshire Village’ (Girtin and Loshak, 1954, p.186). The identity of the subject was finally uncovered only as work was nearing completion of this online catalogue. A small-scale sketch depicting the same composition (TG1589) is inscribed ‘Knaresborough’, and with the help of Professor David Hill it has been possible to establish the location of the view along the river Nidd looking upstream (email dated 15 January 2022). The sketch is part of a group of small drawings of subjects in and near Knaresborough that appear to have been made in the summer of 1800, as Girtin explored the area around the Lascelles family mansion, Harewood House, in response to a commission to produce four monumental drawings. Two show the house set in the magnificent park at Harewood (TG1547 and TG1548) whilst the others feature scenes near Knaresborough: Plumpton Rocks (TG1553) and a distant view of the castle seen from the south east (TG1669). However, although the origin of the work in the Lascelles collection is established by details from the sales records of the Palser Gallery, this does not mean that it was actually commissioned by Girtin’s patron (Girtin Archive, 18). Indeed, the fact that it is dated 1800, conforms to a standard paper size of 12 × 20 ½ in (30.5 × 52.1 cm) and, in comparison with so many of the rest of the patron’s holdings, is in such fine condition, may suggest that it came from the stock of drawings that Girtin produced for Samuel William Reynolds (1773–1835) for the latter to use in his capacity as the artist’s representative, acting somewhere between agent and dealer. The possibility that the work was acquired by Lascelles from Reynolds’ stock is confirmed by the existence of a second version of the composition in the collection of the British Museum (TG1549), which could conceivably be a copy by Reynolds.
The fact that the subject of the work has remained unknown for so long is hardly surprising given the paucity of specific topographical information. This initially led me to conclude that the view was an idyllic image of a small rural farming community seen on a sunny summer’s day and that it might even have been invented by the artist. The inclusion of two cows to the left – not found in the original sketch – combined with the work’s fine condition helps to reinforce the impression of a sequestered spot. However, although it has not been possible to establish the location of the scene with absolute certainty, the most likely option, according to Professor Hill, would put it roughly a kilometre downstream from the castle at Knaresborough so that the weir shown by Girtin would be the ‘Chapman’s Mill Dam’ marked on the 1854 Ordnance Survey map (Yorkshire Sheet 154). At that time, the dam was linked to a dye works. Though it is not known whether this dated back to Girtin’s time, there is a good chance that the sketch and the watercolour are related more closely to the textile industry than could have been appreciated before the discovery of the sketch.
1799 - 1800
Buildings on the River Nidd, near Knaresborough
TG1589
(?) 1801
Harewood House, from the South West
TG1547
(?) 1801
Harewood House, from the South East
TG1548
1800 - 1801
Plumpton Rocks, near Knaresborough
TG1553
1801
A Distant View of Knaresborough, from the South East
TG1669
1800 - 1801
Buildings on the River Nidd, near Knaresborough
TG1549