- Description
-
- Creator(s)
- Thomas Girtin (1775-1802)
- Title
-
- Newcastle upon Tyne
- Date
- 1796 - 1797
- Medium and Support
- Graphite and watercolour on wove paper
- Dimensions
- 11.1 × 16.5 cm, 4 ⅜ × 6 ½ in
- Inscription
‘Girtin’ lower right, by Thomas Girtin; ‘Newcastle’ lower right, by Thomas Girtin
- Object Type
- Drawing for a Print; Studio Watercolour
- Subject Terms
- City Life and Labour; Durham and Northumberland; River Scenery
-
- Collection
- Catalogue Number
- TG1081
- Girtin & Loshak Number
- 160ii as 'Newcastle upon Tyne'; '1796'
- Description Source(s)
- Viewed in 2001 and 2018
Provenance
Possibly Foster’s, 28 May 1890, lot 71 as 'Panoramic view of Newcastle-on-Tyne'; Sotheby's, 25 July 1904, lot 142; bought by 'Dr King', £13; ... L. Adamson; then by descent to the Misses Adamson; Norman Dakeyne Newall (1888–1952); his widow, Leslia Newall (d.1979); Christie’s, 13 December 1979, lot 39; bought by 'Ivy, £7,000'; Thos. Agnew & Sons, 1988
Exhibition History
Newcastle, 1953, no.46 (lent by ’Mrs Norman D. Newall’); Agnew’s, 1953a, no.49; Agnew’s, 1988, no.21
Bibliography
Kennedy, 1998, p.137
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
Footnotes
- 1 Another watercolour of the same view and dimensions appeared on the art market in 1962 when it was suggested that it was the basis of the print (Manning Gallery, 1962, no.7). The work has not been traced and no image appears to exist.
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About this Work
This is the earlier of two watercolours showing a panoramic view of Newcastle upon Tyne (the other being TG1082) that were produced from an on-the-spot colour sketch (TG1080) dating from Girtin’s first independent tour, to the northern counties and the Scottish Borders in 1796. The view, taken from an eminence on the north bank of the river Tyne, looking west, was well calculated to display a range of the city’s main architectural monuments, both old and new, along with a view of the river, the source of its growing wealth. From left to right, the horizon is dominated successively by the tower of St Mary’s in Gateshead, the Norman castle, All Saints’ Church (which was then in the process of being built) and the open spire of the church of St Nicholas to the right. The last of these, now the cathedral, was the subject of another watercolour by Girtin, which he exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1798 (TG1460).
The watercolour is one of four subjects studied on Girtin’s 1796 tour that were engraved by John Walker (active 1776–1802) for his publication The Copper-Plate Magazine (see the print after, above), the others being views of Bamburgh Castle, Northumberland (see the print after TG1459), Warkworth (see the print after TG1099) and Richmond (see print the after TG1067) (Walker, 1792–1802). The engraving of Newcastle is dated 1 July 1797, meaning that Girtin must have produced this watercolour soon after his return, and it may be that a commission from Walker to produce images for his monthly publication helped to finance the trip, not least because the drawing and the print share the same dimensions.1 The print also follows the watercolour closely, excepting one intriguing detail that confirms that Girtin worked from an on-the-spot sketch rather than copying another source, as had hitherto commonly been the case with his work for the print trade. The steeple of the church of All Saints, which was not finished in 1796, when the artist made his sketch, was nonetheless so close to completion that Walker chose to show it in its final form in an engraving dating from just a few months later. The text that accompanies the print is also of some significance, emphasising the fact that Newcastle boasted an enviable range of points of interest, both for ‘the antiquary’ and for those concerned with the city’s ‘commerce’ and its place as ‘the greatest emporium in the north of England’ (Walker, 1792–1802, vol.3, no.66, pl.131). Such is this emphasis that one cannot help but wonder whether the publisher himself stipulated Girtin’s viewpoint for its capacity to represent the widest range of the city’s commercial, industrial and civic monuments, and that, as was noted in the text, the port and its crucial role in the coal trade were a particular focus.
1799 - 1800
Newcastle-upon-Tyne
TG1082
(?) 1796
Newcastle-upon-Tyne
TG1080
(?) 1798
St Nicholas’ Church, Newcastle-upon-Tyne
TG1460
1797
Bamburgh Castle, from the Village
TG1459
1796 - 1797
The Bridge at Warkworth, with the Castle Beyond
TG1099
1796 - 1797
Richmond Castle and Town, from the South East
TG1067