This view of the abbey of Santa Giustina in the centre of the northern Italian city of Padua was produced at the home of Girtin’s important early patron Dr Thomas Monro (1759–1833), and it appears to have been based on a simple outline drawing by John Robert Cozens (1752–97) that is inscribed ‘Santa Giustina – Padua. | June – 19’ (see the source image above). This was almost certainly traced by Cozens himself from an on-the-spot sketch he made on a second visit to Italy, in 1782 (Bell and Girtin, 1935, no.215), when the artist accompanied his patron William Beckford (1760–1844) through northern Italy to Naples. The sketch is one of three Padua subjects (the others being TG0704 and TG0705) in the first of seven sketchbooks that survive from the trip (The Whitworth, Manchester (D.1974.4.21)) and it was presumably traced by Cozens because the books were retained by Beckford. Monro’s posthumous sale, in 1833, contained only twenty or so sketches by Cozens, so the patron must have borrowed the majority of the several hundred ‘outlines or unfinished drawings’ copied by Girtin and his contemporary Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775–1851), as well as other artists. In this case, the source of the watercolour was presumably purchased at the sale of ‘Mr COZENS’ in July 1794 by Sir George Beaumont (1753–1827).¹ As Kim Sloan has noted, Beaumont mounted ‘215 “tracings” or drawings on oiled paper’ in an album that he presumably lent to Monro, and it was from this collection that more than fifty watercolours were produced at the patron’s home (Sloan and Joyner, 1993, pp.89–91).

Girtin and Turner provided the diarist Joseph Farington (1747–1821) with a clear account of their activities at Monro’s home at the Adelphi in London. Here they were employed across three winters, probably between 1794 and 1797, to make ‘finished drawings’ from the ‘Copies’ of the ‘outlines or unfinished drawings of Cozens’ and other artists, amateur and professional, either from Monro’s collection or lent for the purpose. As the two young artists later recalled, Girtin generally ‘drew in outlines and Turner washed in the effects’ (Farington, Diary, 12 November 1798).² In this case, however, the richly worked watercolour washes have effaced all traces of any pencil work that Girtin might have contributed to the work’s production and, indeed, the poor quality of the colouring also brings into serious question Turner’s involvement. The perspective in Cozens’ sketch is not exactly secure, but it all but collapses in the watercolour, which is heavy and overworked to such a degree that it is difficult to associate it with either Turner or Girtin. The Monro School copies executed by Girtin and Turner can vary greatly in quality, but they are never as flat or lifeless as here, and I suspect that this watercolour was made at a later date, perhaps copying an untraced work by Girtin and Turner.

1794 - 1797

The Euganean Hills, Seen from the Walls of Padua

TG0704

1794 - 1797

Part of Padua, Seen from the Walls

TG0705