- Description
-
- Creator(s)
- Thomas Girtin (1775-1802)
- Title
-
- The River Tweed at Kelso, Looking Upstream
- Date
- 1800 - 1801
- Medium and Support
- Graphite and watercolour on laid paper
- Dimensions
- 26 × 44.1 cm, 10 ¼ × 17 ⅜ in
- Inscription
‘Girtin’ lower right, by Thomas Girtin (the signature has been cut, suggesting that it once extended onto an original mount which has been lost); 'Athelstan Abbey on the banks of the Tees, Yorkshire' on the back in a later hand
- Object Type
- Studio Watercolour
- Subject Terms
- River Scenery; The Scottish Borders; Wind and Water Mills
-
- Collection
- Catalogue Number
- TG1715
- Girtin & Loshak Number
- 490 as 'The River Tweed near Kelso'; '1802'
- Description Source(s)
- Viewed in March 2023
Provenance
Thomas Calvert Girtin (1801–74); then by descent to George Wyndham Hog Girtin (1835–1911) (lent to London, 1875); by a settlement to his sister, Ida Johanna Hog Rogge, née Girtin (1834–1925), January 1880 as 'Weston on the River Wharfe'; sold by her to J. Palser & Sons (stock no.15470) as ‘Athelstan Abbey, Yorks’; bought by James Orrock (1829–1913), 5 February 1902, £19; bought from him by Thos. Agnew & Sons, 6 July 1902 (stock no.3909), as 'River Scene Yorkshire'; bought by Charles Morland Agnew (1855–1931), 8 February 1904, £50; then by descent to Vice-Admiral Sir William Gladstone Agnew (1898–1960); Thos. Agnew & Sons, 1979; bought by Dorothy Scharf (1942–2004), £19,500; bequeathed by her to the Gallery, 2007
Exhibition History
London, 1875, no.3 as ’Weston on the River Wharfe, Yorkshire’; Agnew's, 1903, no.49 as 'Athelsten Abbey, on the Banks of the Tees'; Agnew’s, 1919, no.11 as ’Athelstan Abbey, on the Tees’; Agnew’s, 1931, no.115 as ’Athelstan Abbey’; Agnew’s, 1953a, no.36 as ’The River Tweed near Kelso’; Agnew’s, 1979, no.95; London, Courtauld, 2014, no.18
Bibliography
Girtin and Loshak, 1954, p.87
Place depicted
Other entries in Late Watercolours:
Samuel William Reynolds and Painting for the Art Market
An Imaginary City, with Antique Buildings
Rhode Island School of Design Museum, Providence
Ancient Ruins, with an Obelisk
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
Ancient Ruins, with a Gothic Church
National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh
A Classical Composition, with a Church and Column
Walker Art Gallery, National Museums Liverpool
The Arch of Janus, Rome
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
The Temple of Clitumnus
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
Rome: The Temple of Antoninus and Faustina
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
Rome: The Temple of Saturn, with the Arch of Septimius Severus
Private Collection
A Town on an Estuary
Rhode Island School of Design Museum, Providence
A Lagoon Capriccio
Birmingham Museums & Art Gallery
An Unidentified Coastal Landscape with a Windmill
Lady Lever Art Gallery, Port Sunlight
Barnard Castle, from the River Tees
Bowes Museum, Barnard Castle
A Farmhouse, Said to Be near Newcastle-upon-Tyne
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
An Exterior View of the Ruins of Lindisfarne Priory Church
Lindisfarne Priory, Northumberland (English Heritage)
Kelso Abbey: The West Front
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester
Jedburgh Abbey, from the Riverbank
The Higgins, Bedford
On the River Medway, with a Boatyard, Beached Vessels and Hulks
Private Collection
Bisham Abbey, on the River Thames
Private Collection
A Classical Composition, with Figures Admiring the Sculptures
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester
An Unidentified Ruin next to a Bridge over a Stream, Said to Be Furness Abbey
Touchstones Rochdale
The Gatehouse of Morpeth Castle
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
Buildings on the River Nidd, near Knaresborough
British Museum, London
Kirkstall Abbey, from Kirkstall Hill
British Museum, London
Kirkstall Abbey, from Kirkstall Bridge, Morning
Victoria and Albert Museum, London
Kirkstall Abbey, from the Canal, Evening
Private Collection
A Distant View of Kirkstall Abbey
Williamson Art Gallery & Museum, Birkenhead
An Unidentified Scene, Formerly Known as ‘Kirkstall Village’
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
Wetherby Bridge and Mills, Looking across the Weir
The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
Wetherby: Looking through the Bridge to the Mills
British Museum, London
Wetherby: Looking through the Bridge to the Mills
Leeds Art Gallery
Kirk Deighton, near Wetherby
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester
York: The New Walk on the Banks of the River Ouse
Victoria and Albert Museum, London
York: The Layerthorpe Bridge and Postern
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester
York: The Layerthorpe Bridge and Postern
Private Collection
York Minster from the South East, Layerthorpe Bridge and Postern to the Right
Private Collection
A Farmyard with Barns, Ladder and Figures; A Sky Study
Courtauld Gallery, London
Ripon Minster, with Skellgate Bridge
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
Ripon Minster, with Skellgate Bridge
Leeds Art Gallery
Ripon Minster, with Skellgate Bridge
Blackburn Museum and Art Gallery
A Distant View of Ripon Minster, from the River Skell
Private Collection
Ripon Minster, from the South East
National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh
Ripon Minster, from the South West
Private Collection
The Abbey Mill, near Knaresborough
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
A Mountain Stream in Spate, Possibly the River Wharfe
Private Collection
Bolton Abbey: The East End of the Priory Church from across the River Wharfe
Eton College, Windsor
Bolton Abbey: The East End of the Priory Church, from across the River Wharfe
National Museum of Wales, Cardiff
Bolton Abbey: The East End of the Priory Church, from across the River Wharfe
Leeds Art Gallery
Bolton Abbey, from the River Wharfe
Private Collection
Bolton Abbey, from the River Wharfe
Private Collection
The Banks of the River Wharfe, with Bolton Abbey in the Distance
Private Collection
Stepping Stones on the River Wharfe, near Bolton Abbey
National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh
Stepping Stones on the River Wharfe, near Bolton Abbey
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Storiths Heights, near Bolton Abbey, from the River Wharfe
Fitzwilliam Museum, University of Cambridge
Richmond Castle, from the River Swale
Leeds Art Gallery
A Farmhouse in Malhamdale, Known as 'Kirkby Priory, near Malham'
British Museum, London
An Ancient Oak, Said to Be on the River Ure
Private Collection
Cottages at Hawes, from Gayle Beck
Birmingham Museums & Art Gallery
Cottages at Hawes, from Gayle Beck
Private Collection, Norfolk
Cottages at Hawes, from Gayle Beck
Private Collection
Cottages at Hawes, from Gayle Beck
Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
Guisborough Priory: The Ruined East End
Tate, London
A Distant View of Guisborough Priory; The Tithe Barn, Abbotsbury
Private Collection, Norfolk
A Distant View of Guisborough Priory
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
A Distant View of Guisborough Priory
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
A Farmhouse, Said to Be near Newcastle-upon-Tyne
Private Collection
A Farmhouse, Said to Be near Newcastle-upon-Tyne
Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle-upon-Tyne
Kelso Abbey, from the River Tweed
Private Collection
Warkworth Castle, from the River Coquet
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
An Upland Landscape, Said to Show Etal Castle
Victoria and Albert Museum, London
The River Tweed at Kelso, Looking Upstream
Courtauld Gallery, London
The Eildon Hills, from the River Tweed
Fitzwilliam Museum, University of Cambridge
A Distant View of Dryburgh Abbey, with the Eildon Hills Beyond
Private Collection
The Valley of the Tweed, with Melrose Abbey in the Distance
Private Collection
Jedburgh Abbey, from Jed Water
Fitzwilliam Museum, University of Cambridge
Jedburgh Abbey, from the South East
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
The Village of Jedburgh
National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh
Southampton: The South Gate and Old Gaol
Private Collection
Bristol Harbour, with St Mary Redcliffe in the Distance
Bristol Museum & Art Gallery
A Wharf with Shipping, Possibly at Bristol
Art Institute of Chicago
A Rainbow over the River Exe
National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin
A Rainbow over the River Exe
The Huntington Library, Art Museum and Botanical Gardens, San Marino
A Rainbow over the River Exe
Graves Gallery, Sheffield
Lydford Castle, from the River Lyd
Clark Art Institute, Williamstown
St Vincent’s Rocks and the Avon Gorge
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester
On the River Taw, North Devon, Looking from Braunton Marsh towards Instow and Appledore
National Gallery of Art, Washington
Conwy Castle, from the River Gyffin
Private Collection, Norfolk
Chelsea Reach, Looking towards Battersea (The White House, Chelsea)
Tate, London
Chelsea Reach, Looking towards Battersea
Private Collection, Norfolk
A Panoramic Landscape, with Figures Trawling a Pond
Private Collection
Landscape with a Distant Ridge, Possibly Hampstead Heath
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
An Inn Yard, Edgware Road, Paddington
British Museum, London
The Thames from a Window of the Old Toy Inn, Hampton Court
British Museum, London
The Old Cottage, Widmore, near Bromley
British Museum, London
Shipping on the River Medway
Museum of New Zealand, Wellington
A Farmyard with Cattle, Poultry and Labourers Unloading Hay, Possibly Pinkney's Farm, Wimbish
Art Institute of Chicago
Farmhouse and Outbuildings, Possibly in Essex
Aberdeen Art Gallery
An Unidentified Village Street with a Church Tower in the Distance
British Museum, London
A Panoramic Landscape, Possibly Showing Primrose Hill, London
Private Collection
Unidentified Landscape with a Distant Rain Shower
National Museum of Wales, Cardiff
Warkworth Church, with the Bridge Beyond
Victoria and Albert Museum, London
An Italianate Landscape with Two Monks
Private Collection
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About this Work
This fine late watercolour shows a view of the river Tweed at Kelso in the Scottish Borders looking upstream, with the Eildon Hills in the distance. Variously known as ‘Weston on the River Wharfe’ and ‘Athelstan Abbey, Tees’, the work had its subject correctly identified by Thomas Girtin (1874–1960) and David Loshak, who noted that it shows the confluence, to the left, of the Tweed and Teviot rivers (Girtin and Loshak, 1954, p.202). The view was taken from the centre of the old bridge that crossed the Tees at a point close to the ruins of the abbey church of Kelso, and the same structure can be seen in the panoramic view that Girtin painted of the view looking downstream (TG1713). Although the works are not a pair, being different sizes, they share elements in common, with the tree-covered island shown in the centre here appearing to the left of the view looking in the other direction, and both images include the riverside mills that were an important part of the town’s economy. Girtin may have visited Kelso in 1800 as he is documented as having stayed nearby at Dryburgh in that year, but it is likely that the three late views of the river Tweed (the others being TG1714 and TG1716) were made from untraced sketches that were actually executed during an earlier trip in 1796 (Jenkins, Notes, 1852). This is because the old six-arched bridge, which is seen intact in an aquatint of 1793 (see TG1713 figure 1) and in the panoramic view of the Tweed (TG1713), was severely damaged in a storm in October 1797, leading to the collapse of the central arches, from where the sketch on which this work is based appears to have been taken. As with so many of Girtin’s river views, the raised viewpoint offered by a bridge means that the surface of the water stretches right across the foreground, providing a plane onto which the artist can work in reflections of sky, buildings and foliage, which assume a series of more or less abstract patterns in consequence. Girtin’s palette with its dominant blue tonality for the middleground trees and distant hills is surprisingly close to that of John Robert Cozens though this is perhaps the consequence of a view looking north west in the light of a still evening.
It was a ‘quality of abstraction’ that suggested to Girtin and Loshak that this watercolour dated from the last year of the artist’s life, 1802, and that it was one of a string of ‘masterpieces’ that marked ‘the summit of his achievement’ (Girtin and Loshak, 1954, p.87). Like Morpeth Bridge (TG1709), in terms of ‘style and mood’, the work was for them the epitome of the artist’s ‘final style’, which was marked by an economy of means and ‘crispness of execution’ that ensured ‘the clarity of every shape and object included in the scene’. However, the watercolour is not inscribed, and I cannot help wondering whether Girtin and Loshak’s dating of this and the other Tweed views to 1802 is not a little way off the mark, not least because what the authors take to be the way that the artist used the ‘texture of the paper’ so that the ‘wire marks impose a rhythm of their own … animating it with the pulse of their rapid oscillation’ is probably down to the drawing’s faded condition. Moreover, I cannot help thinking that the fact that Girtin is known to have visited nearby Dryburgh in 1800 distorted their thinking on the issue. Certainly, there is no evidence that the stay with the 11th Earl of Buchan (1742–1829) led to any commissions, and none of the views of Kelso or elsewhere in the Borders can be associated with him. I have consequently settled on a slightly earlier and more inclusive date than the 1802 proposed by the authors of the first Girtin catalogue.
1799 - 1800
The River Tweed at Kelso
TG1713
1799 - 1800
The River Tweed at Kelso
TG1714
1800 - 1801
Kelso, from the River Tweed
TG1716
1799 - 1800
The River Tweed at Kelso
TG1713
(?) 1802
Morpeth Bridge
TG1709