That said, the stylised leaves, the schematised representation of the water, and the crude outlines that bound architecture and figures alike all illustrate the limitations of the fifteen-year-old artist’s work at this early date. But Dayes clearly saw enough promise in such watercolours to begin consigning his apprentice’s works to the salesrooms, and Girtin’s work appeared as early as June 1791, when lot 96 comprised two views of ‘Durham castle’ in a sale at Greenwood’s (Exhibitions: Greenwood, 10 June 1791). It may be that Girtin’s apprenticeship was already effectively over by this date and that Dayes was seeking to maximise the return on the effort he had put into teaching his student. Works such as the similarly signed and dated Eton College, from the River (TG0013) and the elegantly mounted Rochester Castle, from the River Medway (TG0057) appear to have been produced for sale in this way and suggest that Girtin was capable of producing competent and professional commodities from early in his apprenticeship. However, whether this still relatively crude view of Durham Cathedral from the river Wear would have had a commercial value is less clear.
1790
Eton College, from the River
TG0013
(?) 1791
Rochester Castle, from the River Medway
TG0057
About this Work
This unpublished work was found in a portfolio of drawings acquired in England for Czar Alexander I (1777–1825). The four other drawings, all Yorkshire views, are by or after Francis Nicholson (1753–1844), but the prominent date and signature on the back of this watercolour clearly establish it as an important early topographical work executed in 1790, whilst Girtin was still in the first year of his apprenticeship to Edward Dayes (1763–1804). The young student would certainly not have been able to travel to Durham at this date – that trip would have to wait until 1796 – and he consequently had to base his work on a drawing by Dayes, who had first visited the cathedral city in 1783, returning in 1789. The study on which Girtin based his work must have been made on the second trip, however, since Dayes makes a prominent feature of the scaffolding erected on the southern of the two west towers around this date. Girtin also shows the new pinnacles added to the northern tower as part of the controversial restoration project undertaken by James Wyatt (1746–1813) from the late 1780s. These are features of the at least five watercolours that Dayes made of the composition. Two of these are dated 1792 and 1793, and two of the other relatively small watercolours (see figure 1 and figure 2) also seem to postdate Girtin’s view. It is therefore a fair assumption that Girtin worked either from a monochrome study made by Dayes on the spot in 1789 or, more likely, from a simple pencil outline. The young apprentice’s work was not simply a copying exercise, therefore, as he was required to use his imagination to convert a plain record of the location into a convincing composition.