- Description
-
- Creator(s)
- Thomas Girtin (1775-1802) after (?) Edward Dayes (1763-1804)
- Title
-
- The Interior of Tintern Abbey, Looking towards the West Window from the Choir
- Date
- 1792 - 1793
- Medium and Support
- Graphite, watercolour and pen and ink on wove paper
- Dimensions
- 38.2 × 27.1 cm, 15 × 10 ⅝ in
- Inscription
‘T. Girtin’ lower left, by Thomas Girtin; ‘View of Tintern Abbey in Monmouthshire / Drawn by Mr / Thos / Girtin / Looking from the choir, down the Nave, showing the / West Window’ on the back in another hand
- Object Type
- Copy from an Unknown Source
- Subject Terms
- Monastic Ruins; South Wales; The Wye Valley
-
- Collection
- Catalogue Number
- TG0213
- Description Source(s)
- Viewed in 2001 and 2002
Provenance
Major K. K. Walmsley; his sale, Sotheby's, 24 June 1971, no.71; bought by P & D Colnaghi & Co Ltd, £1,850; bought and presented by the Friends of Norwich Museums, 1972
Exhibition History
Colnaghi’s, 1972, no.24; Louisville, 1977, no.40; Norwich, 1993, no.14; London, 2002, no.31
Place depicted
Other entries in Topography without Travel:
The British Landscape at Second Hand

Windsor Castle, from the River Thames
Untraced Works

Windsor Castle: The Norman Gateway and the Round Tower, with Part of the Queen's Lodge
Clark Art Institute, Williamstown

The Interior of Tintern Abbey, Showing the Choir and North Transept
Blackburn Museum and Art Gallery

A View in Windsor Great Park with Deer
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

An Ancient House, Possibly in Sussex
Private Collection

The Interior of Tintern Abbey, Looking towards the West Window from the Choir
Norwich Castle Museum and Art Gallery

The Ruins of Newark Priory Church
Tate, London

Lancaster Castle and Priory Church, Seen with the Old Bridge over the River Lune
Private Collection

Barnard Castle and Bridge, from the River Tees
Tate, London

The Ruined West Front of Dunbrody Abbey Church, County Wexford, Ireland
Tate, London

The Refectory of Walsingham Priory
British Museum, London

The Ruined East End of Walsingham Priory Church
Tate, London

The West Tower of Rumburgh Priory Church
Tate, London

Dumbarton Rock, from the North
Tate, London

Part of the Ruins of Middleham Castle
Tate, London

Kidwelly Church, with the Castle Beyond
Tate, London

Kelso Abbey, from the North West
Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford

The Keep, Portchester Castle, from the North East
Tate, London

The Keep of Rochester Castle, from the South East
Tate, London

Part of the Ruins of Middleham Castle
Tate, London

Margam Abbey Church, from the North West
Tate, London

The Ruined East End of Walsingham Priory Church
Tate, London

The Ruins of the Holy Ghost Chapel, Basingstoke
Tate, London

The Medieval Kitchen, Stanton Harcourt
Tate, London

Part of the Ruins of Lewes Castle, from the West
Tate, London

Glasgow High Street, Looking towards the Cathedral
Tate, London

The Keep of Hedingham Castle, from the East
Tate, London

The South Transept, Much Wenlock Priory Church
Tate, London

Newport Castle, Monmouthshire
Private Collection

Portchester Castle, from the Outer Bailey
Tate, London

The Refectory of Walsingham Priory
Tate, London

An Unidentified Church close to a Road
British Museum, London

The Keep of Hedingham Castle, from the South West
Tate, London

Kirkstall Abbey, from the North West
Tate, London

Kirkstall Abbey, from the North West
Tate, London

The Ruined Gateway of Mettingham Castle
Tate, London

The Keep of Rochester Castle, Seen from outside the Walls
Tate, London

Tintern Abbey, from the River Wye
Private Collection

Tintern Abbey: The View from the Nave
Private Collection

The Market at Aberystwyth
Victoria and Albert Museum, London

Lancaster Castle, from the River Lune
Tate, London

Lancaster Castle, from the River Lune
Tate, London

Lancaster Priory Church, Seen with the Old Bridge over the River Lune
Tate, London

Buttermere Bridge, from the Fish Inn
Tate, London

The Medieval Kitchen, Stanton Harcourt
Private Collection, Norfolk

Rochester Cathedral, from the North East, with the Castle Beyond
Tate, London

Glasgow High Street: Looking towards the Cathedral
Tate, London

A Distant View of Corfe Castle
Tate, London

Chichester Cathedral, from the South West
Tate, London

The Gatehouse of Amberley Castle
Tate, London

A Lake and Mountains, Possibly in the Lake District
Tate, London

A Lake and Mountains, Possibly in the Lake District
Tate, London

An Unidentified View across a Lake, or along a Coast
Tate, London

A Road by a Pond, with a Church in the Distance
Tate, London

A Road by a Pond, with a Church in the Distance
British Museum, London

A Church Tower amongst Trees, with a Cart in the Foreground
British Museum, London

An Unidentified Landscape, with a Church amongst Trees
Tate, London

Trees near a Lake or River, at Twilight
Tate, London

A Hilly Landscape, with a Two-Arched Bridge
Private Collection

A Distant View of Tynemouth Priory, from the Sea
Tate, London

An Upland Landscape, Possibly in Northumberland
Private Collection

A Bridge in the Lake District, Possibly Grange Bridge, Borrowdale
Private Collection

Bridgnorth, on the River Severn
The Huntington Library, Art Museum and Botanical Gardens, San Marino

Knaresborough, from the River Nidd
Private Collection
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About this Work
This internal view of Tintern Abbey on the river Wye forms a pair with another vertical composition of the picturesque ruins that is the same size and is also signed (TG0172). Stylistically, the works both date from the period of Girtin’s apprenticeship to Edward Dayes (1763–1804) or soon after its termination, and therefore to a time before the young artist had gained the chance to travel and sketch the scenery of the Wye for himself. The watercolour, like all of his early views of scenery a distance away from London, was therefore produced after the work of another artist, and in this case there is evidence that Girtin adapted a sketch by Dayes, as he had already done with another view of Tintern, seen from across the river (TG0058). An engraving showing the same view looking towards the great west window from a position in the choir of the ruined church is inscribed ‘after a Sketch by E. Dayes’ (see figure 1), and it was presumably from a lost drawing of this view that the young artist worked his composition.
Dayes’ influence extends beyond the shared composition, however. The simple palette of greens and blues set against a warmer tone for the stonework, the shadowy foreground, and the distinctive treatment of the foliage all display a close adherence to his master’s style, as does the use of a strong bounding line in pen and ink to detail the architectural forms. The artist’s immaturity is also evident in the insecure perspective, which means that the two arches of the central crossing appear to fall away so that the square form of the base of the tower is compromised. It is unlikely that Girtin would have allowed such a spatial anomaly had he visited the site for himself and subsequently worked from his own drawing made on the spot, but he was at least able to partly conceal the problem under a luxuriant display of the foliage that was such a picturesque feature of the ruins in their semi-preserved state. Although a low viewpoint up against the piers of the northern arcade may have provided a challenge Girtin could not yet fully master, it did at least provide the young artist with an opportunity to evoke something of the sense of sublime drama that so attracted visitors to the ivy-clad ruins, with their masonry looming overhead to create a suitably immersive experience.
Dayes’ original sketch has not survived, but there is evidence that it was coloured on the spot, rather than being in the form of a simple outline like the similar sketch of the view west produced by Girtin’s important earliest patron, the antiquarian and amateur artist James Moore (1762–99) (see figure 2). Girtin thus employed a warm tone to depict the stonework accurately, reflecting the use of a reddish sandstone in its construction. Moore’s drawing of essentially the same view depicted by Girtin is also a timely reminder that it is possible that a sketch by an amateur artist was Girtin’s original model, rather than Dayes, who himself copied many of Moore’s sketches. Indeed, that might help to explain the perspectival shortcomings found in this view of Tintern.
1792 - 1793
The Interior of Tintern Abbey, Showing the Choir and North Transept
TG0172
1791 - 1792
Tintern Abbey, from the River Wye
TG0058