- Description
-
- Creator(s)
- Thomas Girtin (1775-1802)
- Title
-
- Jedburgh Abbey
- Date
- (?) 1796
- Medium and Support
- Graphite and watercolour on paper
- Dimensions
- 20.8 × 27 cm, 8 ³⁄₁₆ × 10 ⅝ in
- Inscription
‘Jedburgh Abbey. Thos Girtin’ lower right, by Thomas Girtin
- Object Type
- On-the-spot Colour Sketch
- Subject Terms
- Monastic Ruins; The Scottish Borders
-
- Collection
- Catalogue Number
- TG1227
- Girtin & Loshak Number
- 167
- Description Source(s)
- Auction Catalogue
Provenance
Iolo Aneurin Williams (1890–1962); then by descent; Sotheby’s, 12 April 1995, lot 73, £3,910; bought by David Thomson
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
Footnotes
- 1 Not a part of another church, but the steeple added to Newgate in 1791 (Dennison, 2013, p.296).
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About this Work
This coloured sketch of the partially ruined Jedburgh Abbey, seen from a close viewpoint to the south east, was probably made in 1796 on Girtin’s first independent sketching tour. Only one of the twenty or so pencil drawings and on-the-spot colour sketches that survive from the trip is dated, but it is still broadly possible to trace Girtin’s progress through Yorkshire, Durham, Northumberland and the Scottish Borders from the titles of the works that he sent to the 1797 Royal Academy exhibition, and from the dated watercolours that were subsequently produced from these and other untraced sketches. Although no watercolour is known to have been executed from this drawing, it is close to two other views of Jedburgh Abbey from the south east, one painted around 1798 (TG1232) and the other later, about 1800 (TG1724). Though the abbey is depicted from further away, one can imagine that the architectural detail included here might have been of use in those other works’ production, even if the artist also depended on another, untraced sketch made at the same time.
This said, one of the sketches of Jedburgh appears to predate Girtin’s visit to the town, presumably having been taken from the work of another artist (TG0188), and there are a number of factors that make me wonder whether this drawing too was not made at an earlier date from a secondary source. The inscription, for instance, is very close to the form seen in the earlier Jedburgh sketch, and the adoption of a close viewpoint that carefully excludes any of the surrounding buildings is typical of the way in which Girtin’s earliest patron, the antiquarian and amateur artist James Moore (1762–99), selected a view that displayed a building’s architectural details without interruptions. Girtin, in contrast, was much more concerned to show the ruined building in its broader landscape context, and this includes showing the distant spire of another building, even though it adds a confusing element to the composition of his watercolours (TG1722 and TG1724).1 The omission in this drawing of a spire straying into view from another building is typical of Moore’s approach, and, given that Girtin certainly used Moore’s 1792 on-the-spot sketch of Jedburgh (see TG0104 figure 1) to produce two small watercolour views of the abbey from the east (TG0086 and TG0104), it is not prudent to discount the possibility that this sketch too was copied from a lost drawing by Moore. On balance, though, I am still minded to stick with the 1796 date. Placing the drawing in the company of the other twenty or so sketches from the trip illustrates how much it has in common with them, not least in the way that the colour has been used to add only a few highlights to a detailed pencil drawing that bears many of the hallmarks of Girtin’s style of that date.
1797 - 1798
Jedburgh Abbey, from the South East
TG1232
1800 - 1801
Jedburgh Abbey, from the South East
TG1724
1794
Jedburgh Abbey, from the Riverbank
TG0188
1801
Jedburgh Abbey, from Jed Water
TG1722
1800 - 1801
Jedburgh Abbey, from the South East
TG1724
1792 - 1793
Jedburgh Abbey, from the East
TG0086
1792 - 1793
Jedburgh Abbey, from the East
TG0104