- Description
-
- Creator(s)
- Thomas Girtin (1775-1802)
- Title
-
- Kirkstall Abbey, from the Canal, Evening
- Date
- 1802
- Medium and Support
- Graphite, watercolour and bodycolour on laid paper
- Dimensions
- 31.5 × 52 cm, 12 ⅜ × 20 ½ in
- Inscription
‘T Girtin 1802’ lower left, by Thomas Girtin
- Object Type
- Studio Watercolour
- Subject Terms
- Docks and Canals; Monastic Ruins; Yorkshire View
-
- Collection
- Versions
-
Kirkstall Abbey, with a Canal Barge
(TG1632)
- Catalogue Number
- TG1637
- Girtin & Loshak Number
- 448ii as 'Kirkstall Abbey'
- Description Source(s)
- Viewed in 2001 and 2002
Provenance
Thomas Calvert Girtin (1801–74) (by 1852); then by descent to George Wyndham Hog Girtin (1835–1911) (lent to London, 1871; London, 1875); then by descent to Thomas Girtin (1874–1960); given to Tom Girtin (1913–94), c.1938; his sale, Sotheby’s, 14 November 1991, lot 101; bought by Thos. Agnew & Sons, £75,000; Sir John Basil Zochonis (1929–2013)
Exhibition History
London, 1871, no.109; London, 1875, no.91; Norwich, 1903, no.54; London, 1912, no.40; Cambridge, 1920, no.40; Agnew’s, 1931, no.118; Agnew’s, 1953a, no.52; Sheffield, 1953, no.56; London, 1962a, no.153; Reading, 1969, no.52; Manchester, 1975, no.92 as ’Kirkstall Abbey, Yorkshire’; Agnew’s, 1992, no.29; Gowing, 1995, p.261 Harewood, 1999, no.14 as ’Kirkstall Abbey with a canal barge, evening’; London, 2002, no.180 as ’Kirkstall Abbey, Yorkshire, Evening’
Bibliography
Sparrow, 1902, p.99; Mayne, 1949, pl.4; Hardie, 1966–68, vol.2, pl.9; Grigson, 1975, p.76; Sitch, 2008, p.11
Place depicted
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Yale Center for British Art, New Haven

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Rhode Island School of Design Museum, Providence

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Birmingham Museums & Art Gallery

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Lady Lever Art Gallery, Port Sunlight

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A Farmhouse, Said to Be near Newcastle-upon-Tyne
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven

An Exterior View of the Ruins of Lindisfarne Priory Church
Lindisfarne Priory, Northumberland (English Heritage)

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The Whitworth, The University of Manchester

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The Higgins, Bedford

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Private Collection

A Classical Composition, with Figures Admiring the Sculptures
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Yale Center for British Art, New Haven

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British Museum, London

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British Museum, London

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Victoria and Albert Museum, London

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Private Collection

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Williamson Art Gallery & Museum, Birkenhead

An Unidentified Scene, Formerly Known as ‘Kirkstall Village’
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven

Wetherby Bridge and Mills, Looking across the Weir
The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston

Wetherby: Looking through the Bridge to the Mills
British Museum, London

Wetherby: Looking through the Bridge to the Mills
Leeds Art Gallery

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The Whitworth, The University of Manchester

York: The New Walk on the Banks of the River Ouse
Victoria and Albert Museum, London

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The Whitworth, The University of Manchester

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Private Collection

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Leeds Art Gallery

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Blackburn Museum and Art Gallery

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Private Collection

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National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh

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Private Collection

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Yale Center for British Art, New Haven

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Private Collection

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National Museum of Wales, Cardiff

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Leeds Art Gallery

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Private Collection

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Private Collection

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Private Collection

Stepping Stones on the River Wharfe, near Bolton Abbey
National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh

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National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne

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Fitzwilliam Museum, University of Cambridge

Richmond Castle, from the River Swale
Leeds Art Gallery

A Farmhouse in Malhamdale, Known as 'Kirkby Priory, near Malham'
British Museum, London

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Private Collection

Cottages at Hawes, from Gayle Beck
Birmingham Museums & Art Gallery

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Private Collection, Norfolk

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Private Collection

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Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford

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A Distant View of Guisborough Priory
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven

A Distant View of Guisborough Priory
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven

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Private Collection

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Yale Center for British Art, New Haven

An Upland Landscape, Said to Show Etal Castle
Victoria and Albert Museum, London

The River Tweed at Kelso, Looking Upstream
Courtauld Gallery, London

The Eildon Hills, from the River Tweed
Fitzwilliam Museum, University of Cambridge

A Distant View of Dryburgh Abbey, with the Eildon Hills Beyond
Private Collection

The Valley of the Tweed, with Melrose Abbey in the Distance
Private Collection

Jedburgh Abbey, from Jed Water
Fitzwilliam Museum, University of Cambridge

Jedburgh Abbey, from the South East
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven

The Village of Jedburgh
National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh

Southampton: The South Gate and Old Gaol
Private Collection

Bristol Harbour, with St Mary Redcliffe in the Distance
Bristol Museum & Art Gallery

A Wharf with Shipping, Possibly at Bristol
Art Institute of Chicago

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National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin

A Rainbow over the River Exe
The Huntington Library, Art Museum and Botanical Gardens, San Marino

A Rainbow over the River Exe
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Clark Art Institute, Williamstown

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The Whitworth, The University of Manchester

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National Gallery of Art, Washington

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Tate, London

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Yale Center for British Art, New Haven

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British Museum, London

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British Museum, London

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British Museum, London

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Aberdeen Art Gallery

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National Museum of Wales, Cardiff

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About this Work
This fine late watercolour, showing Kirkstall Abbey from the Leeds–Liverpool canal, was executed from a small pencil sketch that Girtin probably made in the summer of 1800 (TG1632). The watercolour belies the idea that Girtin sought out unpopulated landscapes late in his career, since all of the dated works from 1802 are centred on towns, villages or the activities of people, and this is particularly true of this, the last of the artist’s three mature views of the ruins of Kirkstall Abbey (the others being TG1635 and TG1636). As David Hill has described, the ruins are shown from the canal near the locks at Kirkstall Forge, where a barge has been tied up for the night (Hill, 1999, p.28). This is a working, human-made landscape, therefore, as well as being the picturesque setting for an ivy-clad ruin, and the artist shows a boat being cleaned down and horses being led away along the tow path to be fed. The figure on the barge, it should be noted, is recycled from Durham Cathedral and Castle (TG1074), where he is shown repairing the weir. Just as The Leeds Guide of 1806 saw no impropriety in listing the iron forge of Messrs Butler and Beecroft at Kirkstall as worthy of the attention of travellers, so Girtin, in keeping with Charles Taylor (1756–1823), author of The Landscape Magazine, likewise regarded a ‘canal’ and a working ‘towing-path’ as suitable for a ‘picturesque’ view (Taylor, 1793, p.65). A well-managed evening light from the north west draws out a mood of pensive calm, suited equally to labourers at the end of a working day and a monument damaged, but not broken, by the ravages of time. As Hill has again stated, the choice of an evening effect has a particular significance, even though it has been exacerbated by the work’s changed condition, which has seen the greens of the foliage turn to a warm earth tone. The canal view, he notes, thus forms a ‘pendant’ with the earlier Kirkstall Abbey, from Kirkstall Bridge, Morning (TG1636), ‘contrasting morning with evening, the river with the canal, and dark skies with light’ (Hill, 1999, p.30).
All of this is in stark contrast to Girtin’s earlier depictions of Kirkstall Abbey, which were made for his first patron, the antiquarian and amateur artist James Moore (1762–99), whose simple outline drawings provided the basis for two watercolours (TG0144 and TG0147) around 1792–93. The first of these works actually shows the ruins from a similar angle, but the antiquarian was careful to exclude anything that distracted from the sense that they were located in a timeless, unspoilt rural setting. In contrast, visiting the location for himself, probably whilst he was staying at the home of his patron Edward Lascelles (1764–1814) at nearby Harewood House in 1800, Girtin was free to adopt the viewpoints that he thought might make saleable commodities. Thus, although Lascelles may have commissioned a number of local views from the artist, he did not own any of his Kirkstall subjects, and it seems that they were all made for sale on the open market. This work, which must have been one of the last watercolours Girtin painted, may even have remained unsold at his death, however, as its first known owner was his son, Thomas Calvert Girtin (1801–74). Thus, although Thomas Calvert bought the majority of his father’s works in his collection later, it may be that in this case he inherited the watercolour, perhaps from his mother, Mary Ann Girtin (1781–1843), or even his grandfather, Phineas Borrett (1756–1843).
A particularly feeble small-scale copy of the work is located in the collection of the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford (WA1934.140).
(?) 1800
Kirkstall Abbey, with a Canal Barge
TG1632
1800
Kirkstall Abbey, from Kirkstall Hill
TG1635
1800 - 1801
Kirkstall Abbey, from Kirkstall Bridge, Morning
TG1636
1799
Durham Cathedral and Castle, from the River Wear
TG1074
1800 - 1801
Kirkstall Abbey, from Kirkstall Bridge, Morning
TG1636
1792 - 1793
Kirkstall Abbey, from the North West
TG0144
1792 - 1793
Kirkstall Abbey, from the South East
TG0147