- Description
-
- Creator(s)
- (?) John Henderson (1764-1843) after Thomas Girtin (1775-1802)
- Title
-
- The Ouse Bridge, York, from the North Shore
- Date
- 1797 - 1798
- Medium and Support
- Graphite and watercolour on wove paper
- Dimensions
- 20.4 × 47 cm, 8 × 18 ¾ in
- Object Type
- Studio Watercolour
- Subject Terms
- City Life and Labour; River Scenery; Yorkshire View
-
- Collection
- Catalogue Number
- TG1044
- Description Source(s)
- Viewed in 2001 and 2018
Provenance
John Henderson (1764–1843); then by descent to John Henderson II (1797–1878) (lent to London, 1875); bequeathed to the Museum, 1878
Exhibition History
London, 1875, no.5, York, 2012, no.70
Bibliography
Binyon, 1898–1907, no.44 as by Thomas Girtin; Davies, 1924, pl.15 as by Thomas Girtin; Girtin and Loshak, 1954, p.154 as a 'copy' by John Henderson after Thomas Girtin; Brown, 2012, p.76
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
Revisions & Feedback
The website will be updated from time to time and, when changes are made, a PDF of the previous version of each page will be archived here for consultation and citation.
Please help us to improve this catalogue
If you have information, a correction or any other suggestions to improve this catalogue, please contact us.
About this Work
This view of the Ouse Bridge in York, like the two versions of the composition that were taken from a sketch made by Girtin on his 1796 visit (TG1041 and TG1042), was taken from a point on the north bank of the river. However, Thomas Girtin (1874–1960) and David Loshak are surely wrong in suggesting that it is a copy of those watercolours, since the view here is taken from a slightly different angle and includes, in its extended format, many more of the buildings on the far bank, as well as a rare illustration of the North Street landing to the right of the bridge (Girtin and Loshak, 1954, p.154). The authors are on safer ground, however, when they describe what is a very weak drawing as being executed by one of Girtin’s early patrons, the amateur artist John Henderson (1764–1843). The work has faded somewhat, but, even making allowances for that, the washes of colour are tentative and insubstantial, and the buildings in particular are lacking a sense of mass, as the poor perspective renders the spaces between the structures incoherent. Such weaknesses are typical of another panoramic view, this time of Paris, which Henderson appears to have made after one of Girtin’s prints, Pont Saint Michel, from Pont Neuf (see TG1866b figure 1). Copying from one of Girtin’s prints, the amateur was at least able to replicate the carefully controlled composition, but here such is the diffuse and unfocused arrangement of the buildings and the clumsy use of the panoramic format that I am far from convinced that its source was a work by Girtin. Given that the composition differs from TG1041 and TG1042, this would in any case have to have been another untraced sketch by Girtin, and there is no evidence that one ever existed. In other words, I suspect that this work was made by Henderson from his own sketch and that the similarity with Girtin’s view of the Ouse Bridge is coincidental, though the adoption by the amateur of a panoramic format and a broad method of handling the watercolour washes does, of course, reflect Girtin’s ongoing influence on his work.
1796 - 1797
The Ouse Bridge, York
TG1041
1798 - 1799
The Ouse Bridge, York
TG1042
1796 - 1797
The Ouse Bridge, York
TG1041
1798 - 1799
The Ouse Bridge, York
TG1042