- Description
-
- Creator(s)
- Thomas Girtin (1775-1802)
- Title
-
- Kirkstall Abbey, with a Canal Barge
- Date
- (?) 1800
- Medium and Support
- Graphite on laid paper
- Dimensions
- 10 × 20.4 cm, 4 × 8 in
- Object Type
- Outline Drawing
- Subject Terms
- Docks and Canals; Monastic Ruins; Yorkshire View
-
- Collection
- Versions
-
Kirkstall Abbey, from the Canal, Evening
(TG1637)
- Catalogue Number
- TG1632
- Girtin & Loshak Number
- 448i as 'Kirkstall Abbey'; '1801'
- Description Source(s)
- Viewed in 2001
Provenance
Sir George Howland Beaumont, 7th Baronet (1753–1827); then by descent to Sir George Howland Francis Beaumont, 12th Baronet (1924–2011), 1950; bought by Leonard Kitson; bought from him by Leonard Gordon Duke (1890–1971) (D2489), February 1951, £20; bought from him by Tom Girtin (1913–94); bought by John Baskett on behalf of Paul Mellon (1907–99), 1970; presented to the Center, 1975
Exhibition History
London, 1962a, no.152; New Haven, 1986a, no.85 as ’Kirkstall Abbey, Yorkshire c.1801’
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 Torrent by a Clump of Trees
Harvard Art Museums / Fogg Museum, Loan from George and Patti White
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 economical pencil sketch was used by Girtin as the basis for a major watercolour, Kirkstall Abbey, from the Canal, Evening (TG1637), which was painted in the artist’s last year, 1802. The sketch of the ruins of the great Cistercian abbey appears to have been made a couple of years earlier, when the artist is documented as having stayed with his patron Edward Lascelles (1764–1814) at Harewood House.1 A century before it was swallowed up by the rapidly expanding city of Leeds, Kirkstall was easily accessible from Harewood, and, in addition to this sketch, it is likely that on this occasion Girtin made the untraced drawings used to create two more significant watercolours, Kirkstall Abbey, from Kirkstall Hill (TG1635), of 1800, and Kirkstall Abbey, from Kirkstall Bridge, Morning (TG1636), of 1800–1801. The latter distant view of the abbey, seen from the river Aire, has been suggested as forming a contrasting pendant to this canal scene, with its reference to the area’s industrial infrastructure. As David Hill has noted, the sketch records a view on the ‘Leeds/Liverpool canal at the foot of Kirkstall Forge Locks’, south west of the abbey ruins (Hill, 1999, p.28). The barge, shown prominently in both the sketch and the finished watercolour, is not a simple picturesque adornment of a peaceful river scene, therefore; it was clearly observed on the spot and is part of a credible modern setting for a set of ruins that, earlier in his career, the artist had shown in the sort of timeless landscape that appealed to the antiquarian patrons for whom he then worked (TG0144).
1802
Kirkstall Abbey, from the Canal, Evening
TG1637
1800
Kirkstall Abbey, from Kirkstall Hill
TG1635
1800 - 1801
Kirkstall Abbey, from Kirkstall Bridge, Morning
TG1636
1792 - 1793
Kirkstall Abbey, from the North West
TG0144