This view of Grimbald Crag on the river Nidd, just over a kilometre downstream from Knaresborough, is found on page thirty of the Whitworth Book of Drawings (TG1323, TG1324 and TG1600–1625). It appears to date from 1800, the year that Girtin inscribed on an on-the-spot sketch of Harewood House (TG1603) and when he produced a number of other drawings made in the vicinity of the river (such as TG1610). The artist is also recorded in the diary of Mary Anne Lascelles (1775–1831) as having stayed at Harewood House in August of that year, and it is therefore likely that the drawing was made as part of a campaign of sketching at Harewood and its environs that Girtin undertook in preparation for a major commission for his patron Edward Lascelles (1764–1814).¹ This resulted in two very large watercolours of Harewood House (TG1547 and TG1548) as well as a distant view of Knaresborough (TG1669), the original sketch for which Girtin must have taken from a spot near to Grimbald Crag. However, although all the evidence points to an 1800 date, and that the drawing was made directly from nature, the fact that two of the views taken along the river that Girtin included in the Book of Drawings can be shown to be copies – Grimbald Bridge (TG1604) and A Crag on the River Nidd (TG1611) – should give pause for thought. Such is the hybrid nature of the book, which at this point was not much more than the artist’s informal gathering of sheets of paper, that copies and on-the-spot sketches sit side by side, and it may be that this drawing replicates an original that in this case has been lost.

Grimbald Crag, as David Hill has pointed out, is a weathered yellow sandstone outcrop located opposite to the Abbey Mill (TG1607), and the two subjects were presumably sketched at the same time (Hill, 1999, p.44). But, although Girtin used the latter as the basis for a studio watercolour, made for sale through Samuel William Reynolds (1773–1835) (TG1672), who acted on behalf of the artist in his final years in a role somewhere between agent and dealer, none of the other pencil sketches of scenery on the river Nidd led to a commission, no doubt because the subjects generally lack dramatic or picturesque interest. They were presumably included in the gathering of sheets of paper that were bound together after the artist's death to form the Book of Drawings as examples of the artist’s skill as a landscape draughtsman, with the hope that they might find a purchaser. At least sixteen pages have been removed from the book for sale at various times, many, it seems, by the artist himself. For simple pencil drawings like this example Girtin received the not inconsiderable sum of a guinea (£1 1s), in one instance at least.

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1800

Harewood House, from the South West

TG1603

(?) 1800

Grimbald Crag, near Knaresborough

TG1610

(?) 1801

Harewood House, from the South West

TG1547

(?) 1801

Harewood House, from the South East

TG1548

1801

A Distant View of Knaresborough, from the South East

TG1669

(?) 1800

Grimbald Bridge, near Knaresborough

TG1604

(?) 1800

A Crag on the River Nidd

TG1611

(?) 1800

The Abbey Mill, near Knaresborough

TG1607

1800 - 1801

The Abbey Mill, near Knaresborough

TG1672