- Description
-
- Creator(s)
- Thomas Girtin (1775-1802)
- Title
-
- Lindisfarne: An Interior View of the Ruins of the Priory Church
- Date
- 1797 - 1798
- Medium and Support
- Graphite and watercolour on laid paper
- Dimensions
- 41 × 28.7 cm, 16 ⅛ × 11 ¼ in
- Object Type
- Studio Watercolour
- Subject Terms
- Durham and Northumberland; Monastic Ruins
-
- Collection
- Versions
-
Lindisfarne: An Interior View of the Ruins of the Priory Church
(TG1105)
- Catalogue Number
- TG1106
- Girtin & Loshak Number
- 164ii as 'Lindisfarne Priory'; '1797'; also as 'Untraced ... Glastonbury', p.208
- Description Source(s)
- Viewed in 2001 and 2002
Provenance
J. Palser & Sons; bought by the Friends of the Fitzwilliam, 19 March 1932; presented to the Museum, 1932
Exhibition History
Palser Gallery, 1932b, no.88 as ’Glastonbury’; London, 1993, no.139; Cambridge, 1994, pp.60–61; London, 2002, no.85
Bibliography
Bryant, 2005, p.82; Beckett, 1999, p.177
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
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About this Work
This view of the interior of the ruins of the priory church at Lindisfarne in Northumberland, looking east from the nave, was executed from an on-the-spot monochrome study (TG1105) that Girtin made in 1796 on his first independent sketching tour, to the north east and the Scottish Borders. The studio work follows the original sketch closely with respect to the distribution of light and shade as well as the general form of the ruins. At the same time, the artist elaborated elements that are only hinted at in the sketch, adding a skyscape and a distant view of the sea, and inventing appropriate staffage, in the form of a herdsman and cattle, for a ruin that seems to have been reclaimed by nature. The improbably steep mound of rubble that helps to elaborate the theme of transience and decay is not the most radical of Girtin’s departures from his source material, however. Thus, the artist has entirely removed the north arcade to the left, leaving the central crossing vault suspended impossibly in mid-air. The narrow proportions of the original sketch were presumably unacceptable and the artist was willing to compromise the factual accuracy of his view in order to create a stronger composition. The arch, with the continuing aid of the north arcade, still stands and can be seen in the artist’s view of the crossing looking west (TG1108) as well as the earlier watercolour of Lindisfarne that Girtin painted from a sketch made by his earliest patron, the antiquarian and amateur artist James Moore (1762–99) (TG0210).
Girtin did not exhibit any work at the Royal Academy in 1796. However, in the year following his tour to the northern counties and the Scottish Borders, no fewer than ten of his watercolours appeared at the exhibition, and it is not unreasonable to assume that these were produced on commission from amongst his earliest patrons and supporters. The exhibits included two titled ‘St. Cuthbert’s Cathedral, Holy Island’ (Exhibitions: Royal Academy, London, 1797, nos.434 and 763) and it is possible to identify these with a dated work again commissioned by Moore (TG1107) and another larger watercolour that might have come from the collection of another early patron, Dr Thomas Monro (1759–1833) (TG1108). This view of Lindisfarne Priory, in contrast, seems to date from a little later, when the artist worked on the open market instead. The fact that Girtin took such liberties as to omit the north arcade and to change the colour of the dark red sandstone used in the building’s construction might not have been an issue with prospective owners who were not so likely to know the site.
(?) 1796
Lindisfarne: An Interior View of the Ruins of the Priory Church
TG1105
1796 - 1797
Lindisfarne: The Nave and Crossing of the Priory Church
TG1108
1792 - 1793
Lindisfarne Priory Church, Looking West from the Choir
TG0210
1797
An Interior View of the Ruins of Lindisfarne Priory Church
TG1107
1796 - 1797
Lindisfarne: The Nave and Crossing of the Priory Church
TG1108