Girtin’s great contemporary, Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775–1851), also toured the Midland counties in the summer of 1794 and he actually made a sketch of Lincoln from almost exactly the same spot (see figure 1). This is likely to have predated the beginnings of the artists’ association at the home of their mutual patron Dr Thomas Monro (1759–1833) and, although Turner visited and sketched many of the same medieval sites at Newark, Kenilworth, Lichfield and Peterborough, as well as Lincoln, there is no evidence that the two artists were influenced by each other’s choice of subject, or indeed that they met up on their trips. Nonetheless, as Andrew Wilton has pointed out, the two artists’ style when treating architectural subjects was extremely close at this point, leading to subsequent confusion over the attribution of their drawings (Wilton, 1979, pp.36–38). Turner’s use of larger sheets of paper on this tour, rather than his customary sketchbooks, brought his practice particularly close to that of Girtin, but this was no doubt because the artists were working for the same type of client, who demanded careful attention to architectural details. In this case, John Henderson (1764–1843), who was to become another of Girtin’s most important early patrons, commissioned Turner to produce a watercolour of a similar view of the west front of Lincoln cathedral (see figure 2), and this was shown at the same Royal Academy exhibition that featured two of the outcomes of Girtin’s own Midlands tour (TG1002 and TG1017).
(?) 1794
The West Front of Peterborough Cathedral
TG1014
1794
Lincoln Cathedral, from the West
TG1008
(?) 1794
Ely Cathedral, from the South East
TG0202
1794
Lincoln Cathedral, from the West
TG1008
1795 - 1796
Lincoln Cathedral, from the West
TG1009
1794
Lincoln Cathedral, from the West
TG1008
1794
The West Front of Lichfield Cathedral
TG1002
1794
The West Front of Peterborough Cathedral
TG1017
About this Work
This detailed pencil study of the west front of Lincoln Cathedral was made during Girtin’s first significant trip outside London, which he undertook in the summer of 1794 in the company of his earliest patron, the amateur artist and antiquarian James Moore (1762–99). Girtin is documented as having visited Lincoln with Moore (Howlett, 1805),1 and the full extent of the tour can be gauged from the existence of a sequence of detailed pencil drawings of major Gothic cathedrals in the Midlands (such as TG1014) and from dated and exhibited watercolours that were produced from them – most notably, examples painted for Moore himself, including the contemporary version of this composition (TG1008). In addition to Lincoln and Lichfield, patron and artist appear to have travelled to Peterborough and Southwell, with other possible stops including Warwick, Stratford-upon-Avon and Kenilworth. Girtin’s commissions for Moore had hitherto been based on sketches made by the patron himself, including the large watercolour Ely Cathedral, from the South East (TG0202), which was shown at the Royal Academy exhibition in the late spring of 1794. Although a fine work for a young artist, the view of Ely showed up the limitations of working from a secondary source, and I suspect that Moore took his protégé on his next trip so that he might take more detailed and accurate sketches of architectural subjects than he himself was capable of.
Pencil drawings such as this view of Lincoln represent a step change in Girtin’s sketching practice at this date. Working on a larger sheet of paper than he had hitherto employed, the artist recorded a mass of detail from which he might subsequently realise accurate representations of one of the most important Gothic churches in England (TG1008 and TG1009) and compositions that were not compromised by problems with perspective, such as had marred the view of Ely. The earliest of the two major watercolours of the west front of Lincoln (TG1008) must have been produced soon after his return from the Midlands as it is dated 1794. Given that Moore accompanied Girtin on a trip that was undertaken with a series of commissions for watercolours as its primary aim, it is likely that Moore himself chose the subjects for the young artist to sketch as well as dictating the specific viewpoints from which they were to be depicted. Unlike the cathedrals at Peterborough and Lichfield, which were not hemmed in at the west end by other buildings, Lincoln did not benefit from an uninterrupted view. For some antiquarians this might have been a significant disadvantage, but Moore was content to have a picturesque row of cottages included in the foreground, and in any case this view gives a suitable prominence to the cathedral’s distinctive arrangement of three towers, including the two spires, which were removed a few years later. The 1794 tour of the Midlands may have been Girtin’s first significant trip outside London, but the patron was still very much in charge, and the results of the artist’s efforts reflected, first and foremost, Moore’s antiquarian interests.