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Works Thomas Girtin and Joseph Mallord William Turner after (?) John Robert Cozens

Chiavenna, with the Bell Tower of the College of San Lorenzo

1794 - 1797

Primary Image: TG0499: Thomas Girtin (1775–1802) and Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775–1851), after (?) John Robert Cozens (1752–97), Chiavenna, with the Bell Tower of the College of San Lorenzo, 1794–97, graphite and watercolour on wove paper, on an early mount, 18.6 × 24.2 cm, 7 ⅜ × 9 ½ in. Tate, Turner Bequest CCCLXXIV, 12 a (D36490).

Photo courtesy of Tate (All Rights Reserved)

Description
Creator(s)
Thomas Girtin (1775-1802) and Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775-1851) after (?) John Robert Cozens (1752-1797)
Title
  • Chiavenna, with the Bell Tower of the College of San Lorenzo
Date
1794 - 1797
Medium and Support
Graphite and watercolour on wove paper, on an early mount
Dimensions
18.6 × 24.2 cm, 7 ⅜ × 9 ½ in
Mount Dimensions
36.8 × 48 cm, 14 ½ × 18 ⅞ in
Inscription

'At Chiavenna' on the back, by Thomas Girtin (no longer visible)

Part of
Object Type
Collaborations; Monro School Copy
Subject Terms
Italian View: The North

Collection
Catalogue Number
TG0499
Description Source(s)
Viewed in November 2017

Provenance

Dr Thomas Monro (1759–1833); his posthumous sale, Christie's, 28 June 1833, lot 79 as 'Twenty-six sketches in Switzerland and Italy, by Turner, in blue and Indian ink, in a scrap-book'; bought by Thomas Griffith for Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775-1851), £10 10s; accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest, 1856

Bibliography

Finberg, 1909, vol.2, p.1232 as 'A tower, with houses and distant mountains' by Thomas Girtin; Turner Online as 'A Church and Campanile at Chiavenna, with Mountain Beyond' by Joseph Mallord William Turner and Thomas Girtin (Accessed 06/09/2022)

About this Work

This view of the town of Chiavenna, in the mountainous region of the Grisons, now known as Graubünden, is mounted in an album of watercolours that was bought by Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775–1851) at the posthumous sale of Dr Thomas Monro (1759–1833) (Exhibitions: Christie’s, 28 June 1833, lot 79). The twenty-six drawings were the outcome of a unique collaboration between Girtin and Turner working together at Monro’s London home at the Adelphi. Here the artists were employed across three winters, probably between 1794 and 1797, to make ‘finished drawings’ from the ‘Copies’ of the ‘outlines or unfinished drawings of Cozens’ and other artists, amateur and professional, either from Monro’s collection or lent for the purpose. As the two young artists later recalled, Girtin generally ‘drew in outlines and Turner washed in the effects’. ‘They went at 6 and staid till Ten’, which may account for the generally monochrome appearance of the works, and, as the diarist Joseph Farington (1747–1821) reported, Turner received ‘3s. 6d each night’, though ‘Girtin did not say what He had’ (Farington, Diary, 12 November 1798).1

Although no source has been found in the extant works of John Robert Cozens (1752–97), there are two other Monro School views in the locality of Chiavenna that were made from views sketched by Cozens in 1776 (TG0494 and TG0495), and there is little doubt that he was the source for this composition. Admittedly, the view of the early sixteenth-century bell tower of the College of San Lorenzo is smaller than the bulk of the sixty or so Monro School views of the Alpine scenery of France, Switzerland and northern Italy that can, with varying degrees of certainty, be associated with Cozens’ trip. But other examples, such as the views of nearby Bondo (TG0494) and the ruined tower near Chur (TG0491) also concentrate on architectural subjects, and it appears that Cozens sketched on a smaller scale when not depicting more dramatic Alpine subjects.

Establishing the division of labour within a Monro School drawing is considerably helped, as here, when the colour washes leave much of the pencil work showing through. Although the nature of the subject did not require much detail, Girtin’s hand is apparent under Turner’s economical use of a simple monochrome palette.

1794 - 1797

Castelmur Castle, in the Village of Bondo

TG0494

1794 - 1797

A Ravine in the Viamala, between Chur and Chiavenna

TG0495

1794 - 1797

Castelmur Castle, in the Village of Bondo

TG0494

1794 - 1797

A Ruined Tower in a Valley, near Chur

TG0491

by Greg Smith

Place depicted

Footnotes

  1. 1 The full diary entry, giving crucial details of the artists’ work at Monro’s house, is transcribed in the Documents section of the Archive (1798 – Item 2).

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