- Description
-
- Creator(s)
- Thomas Girtin (1775-1802) after John Cleveley the Younger (1747-1786)
- Title
-
- Mount Hekla, with Sir Joseph Banks and His Party Descending from the Volcano
- Date
- 1790
- Medium and Support
- Graphite, pen and ink and watercolour on paper, on an original washline mount
- Dimensions
- 30.5 × 45.4 cm, 12 × 17 ⅞ in
- Inscription
'J. Cleveley, Jun.r del. 1772. T. Gurton copied 1790' on the mount
- Object Type
- Commissioned from Thomas Girtin; Studio Watercolour; Work from a Known Source: Contemporary British
- Subject Terms
- Icelandic View
-
- Collection
- Catalogue Number
- TG0005
- Description Source(s)
- Auction Catalogue
Provenance
John Thomas Stanley, 1st Baron Stanley of Alderly (1766–1850); then by descent to Suzanne Beadle; her sale, Christie's, 15 June 1982, lot 18i
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 Monument to Anthony and Anne Forster, Cumnor Church
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
Brown University Library, Providence, Anne S. K. Brown Military Collection

'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
Brown University Library, Providence, Anne S. K. Brown Military Collection

'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
Brown University Library, Providence, Anne S. K. Brown Military Collection

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 Mount Hekla is part of a group of very early signed and dated watercolours that Girtin produced for John Thomas Stanley (1766–1850). Stanley travelled to Iceland in the summer of 1789, following in the footsteps of his friend the famous botanist Sir Joseph Banks (1743–1820), who had made the journey in 1772. On his return Stanley commissioned Philip Reinagle (1749–1833), Nicholas Pocock (1740–1821) and Girtin’s master at the time, Edward Dayes (1763–1804), to work up many of his sketches into finished watercolours as records of his trip. In 1790 Stanley also employed the fifteen-year-old Girtin, then in the second year of his apprenticeship to Dayes, to make copies of some of the watercolours that Banks had commissioned following his 1772 trip to Iceland, though the fee from the artist’s first professional engagement would have gone to his master. In all Girtin made nine watercolours based on an earlier set of drawings made for Banks by John Frederick Miller (1759–96), James Miller (active 1773–1814) and John Cleveley the Younger (1747–86). Having failed to publish them as engravings, Banks had them mounted as a souvenir of his northern journey. The four volumes, titled Drawings Illustrative of Sir Joseph Banks’s Voyage to the Hebrides, Orkneys, and Iceland, are today kept in the Department of Manuscripts in the British Library (Add Mss 15509–12). Girtin’s first dated works, which were sold by a descendant of Stanley in 1982, therefore depict a country that he did not visit and were careful copies of watercolours made by professionals from sketches they had executed in the field twenty years earlier.
Girtin’s version of Cleveley’s watercolour made following Banks’ 1772 tour (see source image above) is an uncomplicated copy, reproducing tiny details such as the birds in the sky and the gestures of the figures, as well as following broader effects such as the skyscape and the distribution of the light in the foreground. The young artist was employed to produce a copy of a scene that complemented another watercolour made by Dayes, which showed Stanley’s visit to the highly active volcano of Hekla in the south of Iceland (figure 1), and unlike his master’s work this required no great imaginative engagement with the subject. Indeed, given that Girtin’s copy dates from 1790 and thus predates the Dayes view, it may have suggested to the patron that such a composition would be a good way to commemorate his own expedition to the volcano, especially as the privations of the trip up to the snow-clad mountain meant that neither party made a visual record of the latter parts of their ascent, where the cold winds, intense heat and sulphurous fumes challenged the parties at every step. As Banks noted, there could be no easily gathered visual record of ‘Scenes of ashes & desolation’, which he described as ‘almost inconceivable’; Cleveley instead portrayed the exhausted party returning cold and tired, with Banks the figure in the long coat to the right with the snow-clad volcano in the distance (Bonehill, 2014, p.21).
Dayes’ rather more relaxed view of Stanley’s party resting after their ascent to Hekla reflects the different circumstances of the trip. Back in 1772, Banks had been the first traveller to the area after eruptions that had radically changed the landscape over the course of two years of violent volcanic activity. The landscape is therefore dominated by layers of lava and ash that were laid down by the cataclysmic activity of 1766–68, and it is not surprising that this elemental scene, stripped of vegetation, was noted by one of Banks’ party as being in ‘every prospect dreary and horrible to look at’ (Bonehill, 2014, p.21). Copying effects and details was an important part of Girtin’s early training, but, aside from the opportunity it offered to develop this skill, it is difficult to imagine an exercise in landscape less suited to a future career portraying British scenery.