- Description
-
- Creator(s)
- Thomas Girtin (1775-1802)
- Title
-
- St Nicholas’ Church, Newcastle upon Tyne
- Date
- (?) 1798
- Medium and Support
- Graphite and watercolour on laid paper
- Dimensions
- 35.5 × 30.4 cm, 14 × 11 ⅞ in
- Inscription
‘Girtin’ lower left, by Thomas Girtin
- Object Type
- Exhibition Watercolour; Studio Watercolour
-
- Versions
-
St Nicholas’ Church, Newcastle-upon-Tyne
(TG1083)
- Catalogue Number
- TG1460
- Girtin & Loshak Number
- 248
- Description Source(s)
- Viewed in 2001 and 2002
Provenance
Sir Charles Sydney Jones (1872–1947); bequeathed to Liverpool University, 1947
Exhibition History
Royal Academy, London, 1798, no.703 as ’St. Nicholas’s church, Newcastle’ (London Packet, 14 – 16 May 1798); Agnew’s, 1931, no.117; Agnew’s, 1953a, no.25; Manchester, 1975, no.33; Liverpool, 1977, no.33; Newcastle, 1982, no.84; London, 2002, no.51
Bibliography
Mayne, 1949, p.45
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

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; An Unidentified Hilly Landscape
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

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
Private Collection

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
Revisions & Feedback
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About this Work
This view of the church of St Nicholas in Newcastle upon Tyne, now the city’s cathedral, was almost certainly made from a sketch the artist made during his trip to the northern counties and Scottish Borders in 1796. An engraving after Girtin’s panoramic view of the city, published in 1797 (see TG1081 figure 1), clearly places him in Newcastle the year earlier, presumably at the behest of the publisher John Walker (active 1776–1802), who wished to celebrate the city’s striking combination of commercial wealth and ancient heritage. The town, Walker noted, could boast much of interest both for ‘the antiquary’ and those concerned with the city’s ‘commerce’ and its status as ‘the greatest emporium in the north of England’, and this was precisely what Girtin focused on here (Walker, 1792–1802, vol.3, no.66, pl.131). Thus, not only did he make a bold feature of the ‘fine old structure’ of St Nicholas’ Church, with its ‘singular’ fifteenth-century open lantern (Dayes, Works, p.79) – which had attracted the interest of his master, Edward Dayes (1763–1804) – but he also paid almost equal attention to what another visitor called ‘the refinements of luxurious opulence’ attendant on ‘successful commerce’ (Skrine, 1795, p.78). Two rows of shops, with their fine plate glass windows for the display of goods, dominate the foreground, their function announced by prominent signs. The latter, which are not visible in the engraving of the composition (see print after TG1083), were presumably invented by the artist as they improbably announce ‘A LASS STAY WAREHOUSE’ and ‘JOHN SNEEZE SNUFF’. The source of the wealth needed to support the world of consumer goods on display is also alluded to in the form of two hauliers, who are engaged in distributing coal about a town that benefitted so materially from the trade.
Though Tom Girtin (1913–94) thought the watercolour too ‘feeble’ to have been the ‘St. Nicholas’s church, Newcastle’ shown by Girtin at the Royal Academy exhibition in 1798 (Royal Academy, London, 1798, no.703), his alternative candidate remains untraced (TG1083), and I am unpersuaded by his arguments (Girtin Archive, 35). Certainly, the Gothic tower is not well served by Girtin’s careless perspective, which also distorts the line of shops to the right, but the overall effect tallies closely with the one review that the work attracted at the exhibition. An anonymous writer thus claimed that it displayed a ‘stile of drawing productive of some effect, but not to be recommended, as the objects are ill defined’ (London Packet, 14 – 16 May 1798). It seems that Girtin’s watercolour divided opinion then as now, since another critic writing about the same exhibition came to the contrary conclusion, noting that the ‘effect’ of his ‘daring and vigorous execution’ would be compromised by a greater ‘attention to finishing’ (Monthly Mirror, July 1798). A title that promises a standard topographical view but where the work actually delivers a scene of commerce could not have helped critics unsure of Girtin’s move away from a style suited to the enumeration of architectural details for a clientele primarily concerned with securing records of the nation’s heritage.
1797 - 1798
St Nicholas’ Church, Newcastle-upon-Tyne
TG1083
1797 - 1798
St Nicholas’ Church, Newcastle-upon-Tyne
TG1083