- Description
-
- Creator(s)
- Thomas Girtin (1775-1802)
- Title
-
- Grimbald Crag, near Knaresborough (page 30 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
‘Grimble Craig nr Knaresbro’ lower centre, by Thomas Girtin; ‘54’ lower left
- Part of
-
- Whitworth Book of Drawings
- Object Type
- Outline Drawing
- Subject Terms
- River Scenery; Yorkshire View
-
- Collection
- Catalogue Number
- TG1610
- Girtin & Loshak Number
- 369 as 'Grimbald Crag'
- 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.11, p.93
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

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 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
Footnotes
- 1 YRK York Papers, Borthwick Institute, University of York
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About this Work
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–TG1625). 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.
.
1800 - 1801
Mountain Scenery, Said to Be near Beddgelert
TG1323
1800 - 1801
The Valley of the Glaslyn, near Beddgelert
TG1324
1798 - 1799
John Raphael Smith: ‘Waiting for the Mail Coach’
TG1600
(?) 1800
The Ruins of Old Mulgrave Castle
TG1625
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