- Description
-
- Creator(s)
- Thomas Girtin (1775-1802)
- Title
-
- Jedburgh Abbey, from Jed Water
- Date
- (?) 1796
- Medium and Support
- Graphite on wove paper
- Dimensions
- 16.5 × 23.5 cm, 6 ½ × 9 ¼ in
- Inscription
‘T. Girtin / Jedburgh / (The spire rising behind / the Abbey is that / of the church)’ on the back
- Object Type
- Outline Drawing
- Subject Terms
- Monastic Ruins; The Scottish Borders
-
- Collection
- Versions
-
Jedburgh Abbey, from Jed Water
(TG1722)
- Catalogue Number
- TG1226
- Girtin & Loshak Number
- 165i as 'Distant View of Jedburgh'
- Description Source(s)
- Viewed in 2001
Provenance
John Postle Heseltine (1843–1929); his posthumous sale, Sotheby’s, 29 May 1935, lot 313; volume bought by Bernard Squire, £32; bought by Thomas Girtin (1874–1960); given to Tom Girtin (1913–94), c.1938; bought by John Baskett on behalf of Paul Mellon (1907–99), 1970; presented to the Center, 1975
Exhibition History
New Haven, 1986a, no.43
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 distant view of the partially ruined abbey church of Jedburgh in the Scottish Borders, seen from Jed Water, 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. The watercolour based on this sketch is dated 1801 (TG1722), but Girtin is not known to have revisited the town on his second trip to the Borders in 1800. Moreover, given that he showed two works with the title ‘View of Jedborough Abbey’ at the 1797 Royal Academy exhibition (Exhibitions: Royal Academy, London, 1797, nos.423 and 466), it is likely that this and the other three sketches of the town and its abbey church (TG1225, TG1227 and TG1228) were all made in 1796, not least because the third of these drawings seems to have been dated by the artist himself.
Girtin made as many as seven different compositions from the material he collected in Jedburgh in 1796, and he also completed at least two watercolours from the sketches of other artists (TG0086 and TG0104). The abbey of Jedburgh and its village location were the subject of more attention by the artist than any other Gothic monument, and it is not surprising that when he came to picture the abbey at a distance from the river, he included only a broad outline of the building, as other sketches would have provided all the information he needed. Girtin was careful to include one detail, however: the confusing appearance of the spire of another building beyond the abbey, is noted here next to the ruined gable of the west front.1 Shown in such a summary manner, it would have been impossible for the artist to have interpreted this detail correctly five years later if he had not known the subject well.
1801
Jedburgh Abbey, from Jed Water
TG1722
(?) 1796
Jedburgh Abbey, from the North East
TG1225
(?) 1796
Jedburgh Abbey
TG1227
(?) 1796
The Village of Jedburgh, with the Abbey Ruins
TG1228
1792 - 1793
Jedburgh Abbey, from the East
TG0086
1792 - 1793
Jedburgh Abbey, from the East
TG0104