- Description
-
- Creator(s)
- Thomas Girtin (1775-1802)
- Title
-
- Egglestone Abbey, on the River Tees
- Date
- 1798 - 1799
- Medium and Support
- Graphite and watercolour on laid paper
- Dimensions
- 28.4 × 42.6 cm, 11 ⅛ × 16 ¾ in
- Inscription
‘Girtin’ lower right, by Thomas Girtin
- Object Type
- Studio Watercolour
- Subject Terms
- Durham and Northumberland; Monastic Ruins
-
- Collection
- Catalogue Number
- TG1071
- Girtin & Loshak Number
- 334 as '1799–1800'
- Description Source(s)
- Viewed in 2001 and 2018
Provenance
Chambers Hall (1786–1855); presented to the Museum, 1855
Exhibition History
Barnard Castle, 2013, no number
Bibliography
Binyon, 1898–1907, no.42; Davies, 1924, pl.45; Tuck, 1997, pp.329–30, 387–88; House, Rudd and Seward, 2013, pp.51–52; British Museum, Collection (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
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About this Work
This view of the ruins of Egglestone Abbey on the banks of the river Tees was taken from a point a little further downriver than the earlier image of the east end of the church (TG1070). Thomas Girtin (1874–1960) and David Loshak dated the work to 1799–1800 (Girtin and Loshak, 1954, p.179), which may be about right, but I am not convinced by another suggestion, made on the collections website of the British Museum, that the work was executed on the spot during Girtin’s second trip to the north east in 1800. The anonymous text puts forward the idea ‘that it was executed in the flat, abbreviated painting technique that he’ used in a view of Morpeth Bridge that is dated 1800 (TG1706) (1855,0214.15). However, like the dated view of Morpeth, this work is far too carefully organised to have been painted on the spot, and in any case it would have been completely out of character for Girtin to have made an extensive detour to Egglestone in 1800 when he had already visited and sketched the abbey ruins in 1796. By far the likeliest scenario, therefore, is that Girtin returned to another sketch that he made on the 1796 trip that looked north west in the direction of Barnard Castle, and that he then developed a suitable evening effect.
The watercolour has suffered significant fading over the years, with the result that the sky has lost much of its definition, and the general loss of colour means that large areas of the vegetation appear quite lifeless. The change in condition has also compromised the evening effect, though traces of this are still apparent in the distant glow in the sky and the way that the declining sun illuminates the ruins and catches the edges of the more distant trees. A certain flattening out of the vegetation caused by the gathering evening gloom was no doubt part of Girtin’s design, but the change of the watercolour’s condition has exacerbated the effect and this, I suggest, creates the false impression of a work produced in a hurry.
This watercolour was one of a number that were engraved posthumously by publishers keen to cash in on the interest in Girtin’s works after his death (see the print after, above, published in 1805). There is also another version of the composition that measures roughly the same as the print (see figure 1). The work last appeared in public at an auction in 1962 and is known only from a poor-quality black and white image (Exhibitions: Sotheby’s, 14 March 1962, lot 109). It is therefore not possible to confirm the attribution to Girtin, but, as far as one can tell, it appears to be a variation on the composition by an amateur, possibly working from the 1805 print.
1796 - 1797
Egglestone Abbey, from the River Tees
TG1070
1800
Morpeth Bridge
TG1706