- Description
-
- Creator(s)
- Thomas Girtin (1775-1802) after Edward Dayes (1763-1804)
- Title
-
- Lake Windermere and Belle Isle
- Date
- 1791 - 1792
- Medium and Support
- Graphite, watercolour and pen and ink on wove paper
- Dimensions
- 35.7 × 49.4 cm, 14 × 19 ½ in
- Inscription
'TB' in the form of the elaborate monogram of a former owner Dr Theodore Besterman (1904-76); ‘Windermere Lake / Girtin’ on the back
- Subject Terms
- Lake Scenery; The Lake District
-
- Catalogue Number
- TG0078
- Description Source(s)
- Viewed in 2000 and September 2023
Provenance
Possibly Greenwood, 10 June 1791, lot 97 as ‘Two, on the lakes’; ... Walker’s Galleries, London; Thos. Agnew & Sons (stock no.32063); Appleby Brothers Ltd, London; bought from them by Leonard Gordon Duke (1890–1971), 1960, £10 90 (D3816); his sale, Sotheby’s, 5 March 1970, lot 83 as 'Lake Windermere and Wray Castle'; bought by Dr Theodore Besterman (1904-76), £320; his sale, Christie’s, 14 December 1971, lot 52; bought by 'Barclay', 220 gns; Thos. Agnew & Sons; ... Christie’s, 8 June 2000, lot 141 as with 'an original pen and ink border', £14,100; ... Guy Peppiatt Fine Art; bought from them, 2012
Exhibition History
Guy Peppiatt, London, 2011, no.22
Place depicted
Other entries in Master and Pupil:
Edward Dayes and the Industrious Apprentice

An Icelandic Woman in Her Riding Dress
National Museum of Iceland, Reykjavik

An Icelandic Woman with Her Young Daughter
National Museum of Iceland, Reykjavik

The Great Geysir, Iceland, as It Appeared during Its Eruption to Sir Joseph Banks in September 1772
Private Collection

Mount Hekla, with Sir Joseph Banks and His Party Descending from the Volcano
Private Collection

Lava as It Has Run Over the Ridge of a Hill, Iceland
Private Collection

The House of Thorstein Jonsson at Hvaleyri, Iceland
National Museum of Iceland, Reykjavik

A Section of the 'Boiling Fountains' (Geysers) and the Surrounding Country, Iceland
Private Collection

The Basalt Pillars near Laugarnes, Iceland
Private Collection

An Icelandic Woman in Her Bridal Dress
National Museum of Iceland, Reykjavik

Durham Cathedral, from the River Wear
The Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg

Eton College, from the River
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven

London: Interior of St Stephen Walbrook, Looking East
Private Collection

Rochester, from the River Medway
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven

St Mary’s Church, Battersea
Blackburn Museum and Art Gallery

Unidentified Coastal Village, Said to Be Clovelly
Private Collection

The Interior of Buildwas Abbey Church
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven

Somerset House: The Strand Front and the Royal Academy
Untraced Works

An Exterior View of Henry VII’s Chapel, Westminster Abbey
The Huntington Library, Art Museum and Botanical Gardens, San Marino

Westminster Bridge, from the North East
Untraced Works

The Oxford Street Facade of the Pantheon
Untraced Works

The Interior of Westminster Abbey: The Nave Looking East
Untraced Works

The Queen’s Palace, or Buckingham House
Royal Collection Trust (Windsor)

The King’s Mews, Charing Cross
London Metropolitan Archives

The East Front of St Paul’s Church, Covent Garden
Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford

The West Front of St Martin-in-the-Fields
Untraced Works

The Banqueting House, Whitehall
Victoria and Albert Museum, London

The Interior of St Paul’s Cathedral: The Nave Looking East
Untraced Works

St Paul’s Cathedral, from the South West
Untraced Works

The West Front of St Paul’s Cathedral
Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford

The West Front of Westminster Abbey
Untraced Works

Interior of St Stephen Walbrook, Looking East
Untraced Works

A French Lady of Quality in 1581
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven

Edward VI in 1550
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven

A Noble Virgin of Bologna in 1581
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven

A Persian Lady in 1568
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven

An English Nobleman in 1559
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven

Henry VIII in 1520
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven

Marlow, from across the River Thames
Private Collection

Tynemouth Priory, from the Coast
Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York

The River Wensum at Norwich
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Rochester Castle, from the River Medway
The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston

Tintern Abbey, from the River Wye
Courtauld Gallery, London

All Saints' Church, Fulham, from the Seven Bells, Putney
Private Collection

London from Highgate Hill
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven

'First Regiment of Foot Guards, 1660': Officer and Subaltern
British Museum, London

'First Regiment of Foot Guards, 1660': Sergeant and Private
British Museum, London

First Regiment of Foot Guards, 1660: Drummer and Private
Anne S.K. Brown Military Collection, Brown University Library, Providence

'Coldstream Regiment of Foot Guards, 1650': Officer and Sergeant
British Museum, London

'Coldstream Regiment of Foot Guards, 1650': Sergeant and Private
British Museum, London

Coldstream Regiment of Foot Guards, 1650: Drummer and Corporal
Anne S.K. Brown Military Collection, Brown University Library, Providence

'Third Regiment of Foot Guards, 1660': Officer and Sergeant
British Museum, London

'Third Regiment of Foot Guards, 1660': Grenadier and Private
British Museum, London

Third Regiment of Foot Guards, 1660: Drummer and Private
Anne S.K. Brown Military Collection, Brown University Library, Providence

Christ Church, Southwark
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven

Llanthony Priory
Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford

Rochester, from the North
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven

The View from the Great Boathouse, Lake Windermere
Private Collection

Westminster Abbey and Bridge, from Lambeth
Private Collection

The Dover Mail, Dover Castle in the Distance
Private Collection

Rochester Cathedral and Castle, from the North East
Eton College, Windsor

Worcester, from the River Severn
Indianapolis Museum of Art at Newfields

Lake Windermere and Belle Isle
Wordsworth Grasmere (Dove Cottage and Wordsworth Museum)

London Bridge, from the South Bank
Private Collection

The Demolition of a Building, Said to Be Part of the Ruins of Old Drury Lane Theatre
Private Collection

Dover Castle: The Constable's Tower
Untraced Works

A Cottage on the Solent
Birmingham Museums & Art Gallery

Hereford Cathedral, from the River Wye
Hereford Museum and Art Gallery

Chepstow Castle, on the River Wye
Victoria and Albert Museum, London

Warehouse and Shipping at Wapping
Leicester Museum & Art Gallery

A Distant View of Hereford Cathedral
Private Collection

The Gatehouse and Barbican, Warwick Castle
Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco

Chepstow Castle, from the River Wye
Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford

The Interior of a Ruined Abbey Church
Private Collection

The Head of Ullswater, from Goborrow Park
Private Collection

Part of the Ruins of Roche Abbey
Private Collection

The Transept of St Saviour’s, Southwark
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven

Part of the Ruins of the Savoy Palace, Westminster Bridge Beyond
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven

Durham Cathedral, from the River Wear
Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle upon Tyne

All Saints' Church, Marlow
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester

Caesar’s Tower, Warwick Castle
Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford

An Interior View of the Ruins of the Savoy Hospital
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven

A Bronze Age Palstave and a Roman Bow Brooch
Society of Antiquaries of London

All Saints' Church, Marlow
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven

Unidentified Monastic Ruins next to a River
Private Collection

Westminster, from the Ruins of the Savoy
National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh

Manchester: Chetham’s College from Hunt’s Bank, with the Bridge over the River Irwell
Untraced Works

Part of the Ruins of the Savoy Palace, Westminster Bridge Beyond
Private Collection

The Oriel Window of the Great Hall of Eltham Palace
Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford

An Exterior View of Part of the Ruins of the Savoy Hospital
Private Collection

A Distant View of Marlow, from the River Thames
The Huntington Library, Art Museum and Botanical Gardens, San Marino

A Distant View of Marlow, from the River Thames
Private Collection

An Interior View of the Ruins of the Savoy Hospital
Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford

Part of the Ruins of the Savoy Palace, Westminster Bridge Beyond
Private Collection

Buildings in the Process of Demolition, Said to Be the Ruins of the Savoy Palace
Tate, London

An Exterior View of Part of the Ruins of the Savoy Hospital
Tate, London

An Interior View of the Ruins of the Savoy Hospital
Tate, London

St Mary’s Church, Monken Hadley
Tate, London

An Exterior View of the Great Hall of Eltham Palace
Victoria and Albert Museum, London

The Interior of the Great Hall of Eltham Palace
Private Collection

The Interior of the Great Hall of Eltham Palace
Private Collection

The Interior of the Great Hall of Eltham Palace
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven

St Mary's Church, Putney High Street
Private Collection
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About this Work
This view of Lake Windermere, with Belle Isle and its incongruous round house in the form of a classical temple visible in the centre and Troutbeck Fells beyond, was produced during the period of Girtin’s apprenticeship to Edward Dayes (1763–1804). The young apprentice, perhaps fifteen or sixteen years old, certainly could not have visited the Lake District at this time and, indeed, although Thomas Girtin (1874–1960) and David Loshak attributed a number of similar views to purported trips to the area in 1800 and 1801, it is now clear that all of his Lake District subjects were made, as in this case, after the works of other artists (Girtin and Loshak, 1954, pp.41–42). The source for Girtin’s watercolour was in all probability an extended view that appears to be an on-the-spot sketch made on Dayes’ visit to the Lakes in 1789 (see figure 1). Windermere Lake from Turner Falls, Lancashire Side is painted on two pieces of paper with rapidly applied washes in a limited palette and thereby has a strong claim to be a rare survival of Dayes’ habit of supplementing his stock of pencil outlines of topographical subjects with colour studies. Working presumably from this sketch, Girtin follows the basic topography of Dayes’ view but develops the foreground in particular, completing the bend in the road, raising the bank to the left and adding a wall to the right. Beyond that he takes a number of the insignificant trees lined across the middle ground and enhances them considerably so that they enclose the rather bald view recorded by Dayes, creating an enticing screen for the distant lake. Dayes’ more extended view is transformed into a finished composition by a young artist who, having not visited the scene himself, felt free to enhance the topographical record.
Stylistically, the watercolour is comparable to a group of early views, some of them dated 1791 and 1792, that were all based on compositions by Dayes, including The Dover Mail, Dover Castle in the Distance (TG0075), and that share the same tripartite structure. In the predominantly shaded foreground, a road curves round, flanked by trees that employ the same Dayesian conventions with greens and browns dominating. This gives way to a predominantly blue, well-lit distance in which the topographical subject, Belle Isle and the distant hills, is rendered with great clarity. This, in turn, merges with a luminous sky, with the clouds emerging from the fluid application of washes of blue. The only clear sign in all of this of the artist’s immaturity is the way that the fine individual parts do not yet form a coherent whole.
Early Lake District scenes such as this and what may be its pair, The View from the Great Boathouse, Lake Windermere (TG0073), which was also presumably made after a composition by Dayes, initially struck me as teaching exercises in which the apprentice tried out the skills passed on from his master (Smith, 2002b, p.45). It is certainly true that such watercolours were not made as commissions, but the discovery during the writing of this online catalogue of the details of a series of very early sales of Girtin’s works, consigned to the auctioneers by Dayes himself, has opened up a different possibility. Greenwood’s sale on 17 November 1791 included as lot 50 ‘Ulswater, and Windermere lakes’ by Girtin, and again on 7 February 1793, lot 89 by Girtin was described as ‘Two, views in Cumberland’ (Exhibitions: Greenwood, 17 November 1791; Greenwood, 7 February 1793). Although there is no way of knowing whether this work was included in these sales, or another that contained two views ‘on the Lakes’ in June 1791 (Exhibitions: Greenwood, 10 June 1791), it is clear that Dayes had quickly realised that there was a ready market for Lake District scenes by his apprentice made after his own compositions. The dates of the sales, coinciding with the premature end of Girtin’s apprenticeship, suggest another motivation, however, with Dayes presumably seeking financial compensation for the impending loss of his pupil’s labour.
Girtin’s watercolour retained its washline mount until relatively recently, and although there is no photographic record of the work’s original appearance it is likely to have resembled that of Rochester Castle, from the River Medway (TG0057). That work is signed on the mount ‘Girtin fecit.’ which no doubt helped with the preservation of its original display feature. The elaborate monogram to the lower left is not by Girtin, however, but the mark of an earlier owner, Dr Theodore Besterman (1904-76).
1791 - 1792
The Dover Mail, Dover Castle in the Distance
TG0075
1791 - 1792
The View from the Great Boathouse, Lake Windermere
TG0073
(?) 1791
Rochester Castle, from the River Medway
TG0057