- Description
-
- Creator(s)
- Thomas Girtin (1775-1802)
- Title
-
- Grimbald Bridge, near Knaresborough (page 20 of the Whitworth Book of Drawings)
- Date
- (?) 1800
- Medium and Support
- Graphite on wove paper
- Dimensions
- 14.6 × 21.7 cm, 5 ¾ × 8 ½ in
- Inscription
‘37’ lower right
- Part of
- Object Type
- Outline Drawing; Replica by Girtin
- Subject Terms
- River Scenery; Yorkshire View
-
- Collection
-
- The Whitworth, The University of Manchester
- (D.1977.15.20)
- Versions
-
Grimbald Bridge, near Knaresborough
(TG1509)
- Catalogue Number
- TG1604
- Girtin & Loshak Number
- 371 as 'Grimbald Bridge'
- Description Source(s)
- Viewed in 2001, 2002 and 2022
Provenance
Sale at Platt Vicarage, Rusholme, Manchester, 1898; sketchbook bought by 'Shepherd'; then by descent to F. W. Shepherd; his sale, Sotheby’s, 7 July 1977, lot 46; bought by Baskett and Day; bought by the Gallery, 1977
Bibliography
Hardie, 1938–39, no.7, p.93; Hill, 1999, p.44
Place depicted
Other entries in Later Sketches:
Taken on the Spot and Worked in the Studio
Mountain Scenery, Said to Be near Beddgelert (page 15, reverse, of the Whitworth Book of Drawings)
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester
The Valley of the Glaslyn, near Beddgelert (page 15 of the Whitworth Book of Drawings)
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester
Trees in a Glade Overlooking a Lake
Private Collection
Middleham Village, with the Castle Beyond
Victoria and Albert Museum, London
An Extensive Landscape with the Ruins of Mitford Castle
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
Plumpton Rocks, near Knaresborough
Private Collection
A Parkland Landscape with Cattle and Sheep
Private Collection
John Raphael Smith: 'Waiting for the Mail Coach' (mounted on page 1 of the Whitworth Book of Drawings)
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester
Chelsea Reach, Looking towards Battersea (page 11 of the Whitworth Book of Drawings)
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester
The Stables, Plompton Park (page 17 of the Whitworth Book of Drawings)
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester
Harewood House, from the South West (page 18 of the Whitworth Book of Drawings)
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester
Grimbald Bridge, near Knaresborough (page 20 of the Whitworth Book of Drawings)
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester
The Abbey Mill, near Knaresborough (page 25 of the Whitworth Book of Drawings)
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester
A Farmhouse in Malhamdale, Known as 'Kirkby Priory, near Malham' (page 26 of the Whitworth Book of Drawings)
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester
Sandsend (page 29 of the Whitworth Book of Drawings)
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester
Grimbald Crag, near Knaresborough (page 30 of the Whitworth Book of Drawings)
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester
A Crag on the River Nidd (page 31 of the Whitworth Book of Drawings)
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester
Guisborough Priory: The Ruined East End (page 33 of the Whitworth Book of Drawings)
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester
Stepping Stones on the River Wharfe
British Museum, London
An Interior View of the Choir of Bolton Priory
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
Bolton Abbey, from the River Wharfe (page 37 of the Whitworth Book of Drawings)
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester
Bolton Abbey: The East End of the Priory Church, from across the River Wharfe (page 38 of the Whitworth Book of Drawings)
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester
The East End of Bolton Priory Church (pages 38–39 of the Whitworth Book of Drawings)
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester
A Distant View of Middleham Castle, with the River Ure in the Foreground (page 41 of the Whitworth Book of Drawings)
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester
Middleham Village, with the Castle Beyond (page 42 of the Whitworth Book of Drawings)
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester
A Village at the Bend of a River, Probably in Yorkshire (page 44 of the Whitworth Book of Drawings)
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester
Beached Vessels at Low Tide (page 46 of the Whitworth Book of Drawings)
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester
Five Craft off the Coast on a Calm Sea (page 47 of the Whitworth Book of Drawings)
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester
Shipping off the Coast on a Calm Sea (page 48 of the Whitworth Book of Drawings)
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester
The Ruins of Old Mulgrave Castle (page 49 of the Whitworth Book of Drawings)
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester
Mulgrave Park and Castle, from near Epsyke Farm
British Museum, London
The River Nidd between Knaresborough and Wetherby
Rhode Island School of Design Museum, Providence
Kirkstall Abbey, with a Canal Barge
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
The River Nidd, between Knaresborough and Wetherby
Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle upon Tyne
The Valley of the Tweed, with Melrose Abbey in the Distance
Private Collection
A Clump of Trees by the Waterside
Private Collection
A Torrent by a Clump of Trees
Harvard Art Museums / Fogg Museum, Loan from George and Patti White
A River Valley and a Distant Hill Seen through Trees
Clark Art Institute, Williamstown
A Shady Road Leading to Cottages
British Museum, London
A Church in a Village, Possibly at Radwinter
British Museum, London
A Building with a Tall Chimney, next to a Stream
British Museum, London
Landscape with a Farmhouse and Cottage
Private Collection
A Schooner near the Shore
Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
A Coast Scene with Two Beached Vessels
Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
A Shipping Study: Five Craft on a Calm Sea
British Museum, London
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About this Work
This view of Grimabald Bridge near Knaresborough in Yorkshire was copied from a smaller sketch that dates from either 1799 or more probably 1800 (TG1509), and it is one of three examples in the Whitworth Book of Drawings (TG1323, TG1324 and TG1600–1625) that can definitively be shown to be replicas of earlier on-the-spot drawings (the others being TG1601 and TG1620). The latter view, of Middleham, appears to have been traced from its source (TG1508), a drawing dated 1799, whereas the original drawing here is smaller in scale (11.4 × 17.5 cm, 4 ½ × 6 ⅞ in), and the copy must therefore have been drawn into the book freehand. Even so, differences are difficult to detect and, initially at least, it is hard to appreciate what Girtin was up to in producing what David Hill has termed an ‘improbably faithful replica’, which led him to wonder whether what I take to be the original was not in fact created by the artist’s brother, John Girtin (1773–1821) (Hill, 1995, p.62). I suspect the answer is rather more prosaic, stemming from the ready market for Girtin’s sketches, both in pencil and in colours, that the artist succeeded in building up over the years. The likeliest scenario is that, as in the case of the Middleham sketch, Girtin found a purchaser for his on-the-spot drawing of Grimbald Bridge and that, prior to parting with it, he produced a replica either in the Book of Drawings or on a piece of paper that was later bound into it. This could then be shown to potential clients and used as the basis for a watercolour commission, though equally it too might find a purchaser, who would have no reason to think that the replica was not sketched on the spot. The bridge, which carries the old Knaresborough to Wetherby road, stands a few hundred metres downstream from a building that is the subject of another sketch in the Book of Drawings, the Abbey Mill (TG1607). Grimbald Bridge might therefore have made a fine pair to the watercolour of the mill scene (TG1672), though no commission seem to have been secured.
1799 - 1800
Grimbald Bridge, near Knaresborough
TG1509
(?) 1801
Chelsea Reach, Looking towards Battersea
TG1601
(?) 1801
Middleham Village, with the Castle Beyond
TG1620
1799
Middleham Village, with the Castle Beyond
TG1508
(?) 1800
The Abbey Mill, near Knaresborough
TG1607
1800 - 1801
The Abbey Mill, near Knaresborough
TG1672