- Description
-
- Creator(s)
- Unknown Artist after Thomas Girtin (1775-1802)
- Title
-
- Easby Abbey, from the River Swale
- Date
- 1800 - 1810
- Medium and Support
- Graphite, watercolour and scratching out on laid paper
- Dimensions
- 25.6 × 40 cm, 10 ⅛ × 15 ¾ in
- Object Type
- Studio Watercolour
- Subject Terms
- Monastic Ruins; River Scenery; Yorkshire View
-
- Collection
- Catalogue Number
- TG1060
- Girtin & Loshak Number
- 333 as 'Easby (St. Agatha's) Abbey, Yorkshire'; '1799–1800'
- Description Source(s)
- Viewed in 2001
Provenance
Charles James Pooley (1836–1900); his sale, Christie’s, 6 March 1880, lot 26 as 'St Agatha’s Abbey'; bought by 'Grundy', 19 gns; Alfred Aspland (1815-80); his posthumous sale, Sotheby's, 27 January 1885, lot 166; bought by 'Riggall', £1 10s; Dr Edward Riggall (1817–1900); his posthumous sale, Sotheby's, 4 July 1901, lot 121; bought by 'Chalkland', £1 2s; J. Palser & Sons (stock no.15566); bought by Thos. Agnew & Sons, 8 February 1905 (stock no.4749); bought by Roger Fry, 24 February 1908, £40, on behalf of the Metropolitan Museum, New York
Exhibition History
Agnew’s, 1905, no.81; Agnew’s, 1908, no.123
Bibliography
Holmes, 1908, pp.375–76, p.381; Carlisle, 1950, p.23; Museum Website as '19th-century British copy' (Accessed 15/09/2022)
Place depicted
Other entries in The 1796 Northern Tour to Yorkshire, the North East and the Scottish Borders:
Sketches and Subsequent Watercolours

Bamburgh Castle, from the South
Cragside House, Northumberland (National Trust)

Durham Cathedral, from the South West
British Museum, London

The Ouse Bridge, York, from the North Shore
British Museum, London

The Ouse Bridge, York, from Skeldergate Postern
York Art Gallery

York: The New Walk on the Banks of the Ouse
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven

York Minster, from the South West
Private Collection

York Minster, from the South West
Private Collection

York Minster, from the Ouse, with St Mary’s Abbey
Harewood House, Yorkshire

The South Side of York Minster, Showing the Transept and the Western Towers
Private Collection, Yorkshire

York Minster, from the South East, Layerthorpe Bridge and Postern to the Right
British Museum, London

Unidentified Gothic Ruins, Said to Be St Mary’s Abbey, York
Birmingham Museums & Art Gallery

A Distant View of Ripon Minster, from the River Skell
Private Collection

A Distant View of Ripon Minster, from the River Skell
Harewood House, Yorkshire

A Distant View of Rievaulx Abbey
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven

Easby Abbey, from the River Swale
Private Collection

Easby Abbey, from the River Swale
Manchester Art Gallery

Easby Abbey, from the River Swale
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

The Bridge at Warkworth, with the Church Beyond
Victoria and Albert Museum, London

Richmond, Yorkshire: The Seventeenth-Century House Known as St Nicholas
British Museum, London

Richmond Castle and Bridge, from the River Swale
The Huntington Library, Art Museum and Botanical Gardens, San Marino

Richmond Castle and Bridge, from the River Swale
Victoria Gallery and Museum, University of Liverpool

Richmond Castle and Town, from the South East
Private Collection

Barnard Castle, from the River Tees
British Museum, London

Egglestone Abbey, from the River Tees
Gallery Oldham

Egglestone Abbey, on the River Tees
British Museum, London

Durham Cathedral and Castle, from the River Wear
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

Durham Cathedral and Castle, from the River Wear
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester

Durham Cathedral and Castle, from the River Wear
J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles

Durham Castle and Cathedral, from below the Weir
Private Collection, Norfolk

Durham Castle and Cathedral, from below the Weir
Victoria and Albert Museum, London

Durham Castle and Cathedral, from below the Weir; Dryburgh Abbey with the Eildon Hills Beyond
Birmingham Museums & Art Gallery

Durham Cathedral, from the South West
Private Collection

St Nicholas’ Church, Newcastle-upon-Tyne
Private Collection

Tynemouth Priory, from the Coast
Cleveland Museum of Art

Bothal Castle, from the River Wansbeck
Private Collection

A River Scene with a Tower, Said to Be the Tyne near Hexham
Leeds Art Gallery

Warkworth Castle, from the River Coquet
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven

Warkworth Castle, from the River Coquet
Private Collection, Norfolk

The Bridge at Warkworth, with the Castle Beyond
Untraced Works

Dunstanburgh Castle, Viewed from a Distance
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven

Dunstanburgh Castle: The Lilburn Tower
Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle-upon-Tyne

Lindisfarne: An Interior View of the Ruins of the Priory Church
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester

Lindisfarne: An Interior View of the Ruins of the Priory Church
Fitzwilliam Museum, University of Cambridge

An Interior View of the Ruins of Lindisfarne Priory Church
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven

Lindisfarne: The Nave and Crossing of the Priory Church
British Museum, London

An Exterior View of the Ruins of Lindisfarne Priory Church
Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford

An Exterior View of the Ruins of Lindisfarne Priory Church
Private Collection

York Minster, from the South East, Layerthorpe Bridge and Postern to the Right
Victoria and Albert Museum, London

Dryburgh Abbey: The South Transept Looking North
Private Collection

Dryburgh Abbey: The South Transept from the Cloister
Private Collection

Melrose Abbey: The Ruined Presbytery and the East Window
Clark Art Institute, Williamstown

Melrose Abbey: The Ruined Presbytery and the East Window
Cooper Gallery, Barnsley

Melrose Abbey, from the North East
The Morgan Library & Museum, New York

Jedburgh Abbey, from the North East
Private Collection

Jedburgh Abbey, from Jed Water
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven

The Village of Jedburgh, with the Abbey Ruins
British Museum, London

The Village of Jedburgh, with the Abbey Ruins
Private Collection, Bedfordshire

The West Front of Jedburgh Abbey
British Museum, London

Jedburgh Abbey, from the South East
Blickling Hall, Norfolk (National Trust)

The Ruins of the Lady Chapel, near Bothal
Rhode Island School of Design Museum, Providence

Bamburgh Castle, from the Village
Guy Peppiatt Fine Art Ltd

St Nicholas’ Church, Newcastle-upon-Tyne
Victoria Gallery and Museum, University of Liverpool

Richmond, Yorkshire: The Seventeenth-Century House Known as St Nicholas
Private Collection

An Interior View of Fountains Abbey: The East Window from the Presbytery
Graves Gallery, Sheffield

St Mary’s, Old Malton, on the River Derwent
Untraced Works

York: Pavement, Looking towards All Saints
Private Collection
Revisions & Feedback
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About this Work
This view of the west range of St Agatha’s Abbey at Easby, on the river Swale, was catalogued by Thomas Girtin (1874–1960) and David Loshak as an autograph work by Girtin and they dated it to 1799–1800 (Girtin and Loshak, 1954, p.179). Although the work’s condition has been severely compromised by fading, so that the blues and greens have been reduced to a dull, lifeless monochrome, it is so clearly a poor-quality copy of a composition of which there are two versions (TG1058 and TG1059) that it is difficult to understand why its attribution was not questioned much earlier though the fact that it did not reappear in public until an auction in 1970 was no doubt a factor. The similarity in the scale between the two works and details such as the indistinct form of the figure suggest that it was the watercolour catalogued as TG1058 that was the source for the copy and not the smaller version of the composition (TG1059) which was likewise not included in the earlier catalogue despite its links with other northern subjects made for the print trade (such as TG1115).
Another work that was formerly attributed to Girtin, An Unidentified Landscape with a Church amongst Trees, in the collection of the Yale Center for British Art, New Haven (TG1775), is also on laid paper and has similarly faded to a range of greys and dull muddy greens. It is currently attributed to William Pearson (1772–1849), a competent professional artist who was inspired by Girtin’s works and seems to have copied them on occasion (see TG1229 figure 1) (Tonkin, 1983, pp.27–34). Contrary to the opinion of Girtin and Loshak, there is no evidence that Pearson forged Girtin’s works for financial reward, and if this copy is by him, something that is admittedly impossible to prove, it is likely to have been made in homage to an admired master (Girtin and Loshak, 1954, p.123).
1797 - 1799
Easby Abbey, from the River Swale
TG1058
1796 - 1797
Etal Castle
TG1115
1798 - 1805
An Unidentified Landscape with a Church amongst Trees
TG1775