- Description
-
- Creator(s)
- Thomas Girtin (1775-1802) after (?) Edward Dayes (1763-1804)
- Title
-
- The View from the Great Boathouse, Lake Windermere
- Date
- 1791 - 1792
- Medium and Support
- Graphite, watercolour and pen and ink on laid paper, on an original mount
- Dimensions
- 37 × 49 cm, 14 ½ × 19 ¼ in
- Inscription
'View from the Great Boat House Windermere Lake Lancashire / T Girtin' on the back, by Thomas Girtin
- Subject Terms
- Lake Scenery; Picturesque Vernacular; The Lake District
-
- Collection
- Catalogue Number
- TG0073
- Description Source(s)
- Auction Catalogue; Girtin Archive Photograph
Provenance
Possibly Greenwood, 10 June 1791, lot 97 as ‘Two, on the lakes’; ... Sotheby’s, 10 July 1980, lot 113, £800
Place depicted
Other entries in Master and Pupil:
Edward Dayes and the Industrious Apprentice
An Icelandic Woman in Her Riding Dress
National Museum of Iceland, Reykjavik
An Icelandic Woman with Her Young Daughter
National Museum of Iceland, Reykjavik
The Great Geysir, Iceland, as It Appeared during Its Eruption to Sir Joseph Banks in September 1772
Private Collection
Mount Hekla, with Sir Joseph Banks and His Party Descending from the Volcano
Private Collection
Lava as It Has Run Over the Ridge of a Hill, Iceland
Private Collection
The House of Thorstein Jonsson at Hvaleyri, Iceland
National Museum of Iceland, Reykjavik
A Section of the 'Boiling Fountains' (Geysers) and the Surrounding Country, Iceland
Private Collection
The Basalt Pillars near Laugarnes, Iceland
Private Collection
An Icelandic Woman in Her Bridal Dress
National Museum of Iceland, Reykjavik
Durham Cathedral, from the River Wear
The Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg
Eton College, from the River
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
London: Interior of St Stephen Walbrook, Looking East
Private Collection
Rochester, from the River Medway
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
St Mary’s Church, Battersea
Blackburn Museum and Art Gallery
Unidentified Coastal Village, Said to Be Clovelly
Private Collection
The Monument to Anthony and Anne Forster, Cumnor Church
Private Collection
The Interior of Buildwas Abbey Church
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
Somerset House: The Strand Front and the Royal Academy
Untraced Works
An Exterior View of Henry VII’s Chapel, Westminster Abbey
The Huntington Library, Art Museum and Botanical Gardens, San Marino
Westminster Bridge, from the North East
Untraced Works
The Oxford Street Facade of the Pantheon
Untraced Works
The Interior of Westminster Abbey: The Nave Looking East
Untraced Works
The Queen’s Palace, or Buckingham House
Royal Collection Trust (Windsor)
The King’s Mews, Charing Cross
London Metropolitan Archives
The East Front of St Paul’s Church, Covent Garden
Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
The West Front of St Martin-in-the-Fields
Untraced Works
The Banqueting House, Whitehall
Victoria and Albert Museum, London
The Interior of St Paul’s Cathedral: The Nave Looking East
Untraced Works
St Paul’s Cathedral, from the South West
Untraced Works
The West Front of St Paul’s Cathedral
Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
The West Front of Westminster Abbey
Untraced Works
Interior of St Stephen Walbrook, Looking East
Untraced Works
A French Lady of Quality in 1581
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
Edward VI in 1550
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
A Noble Virgin of Bologna in 1581
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
A Persian Lady in 1568
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
An English Nobleman in 1559
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
Henry VIII in 1520
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
Marlow, from across the River Thames
Private Collection
Tynemouth Priory, from the Coast
Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York
The River Wensum at Norwich
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Rochester Castle, from the River Medway
The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
Tintern Abbey, from the River Wye
Courtauld Gallery, London
All Saints' Church, Fulham, from the Seven Bells, Putney
Private Collection
London from Highgate Hill
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
'First Regiment of Foot Guards, 1660': Officer and Subaltern
British Museum, London
'First Regiment of Foot Guards, 1660': Sergeant and Private
British Museum, London
First Regiment of Foot Guards, 1660: Drummer and Private
Brown University Library, Providence, Anne S. K. Brown Military Collection
'Coldstream Regiment of Foot Guards, 1650': Officer and Sergeant
British Museum, London
'Coldstream Regiment of Foot Guards, 1650': Sergeant and Private
British Museum, London
Coldstream Regiment of Foot Guards, 1650: Drummer and Corporal
Brown University Library, Providence, Anne S. K. Brown Military Collection
'Third Regiment of Foot Guards, 1660': Officer and Sergeant
British Museum, London
'Third Regiment of Foot Guards, 1660': Grenadier and Private
British Museum, London
Third Regiment of Foot Guards, 1660: Drummer and Private
Brown University Library, Providence, Anne S. K. Brown Military Collection
Christ Church, Southwark
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
Llanthony Priory
Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
Rochester, from the North
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
The View from the Great Boathouse, Lake Windermere
Private Collection
Westminster Abbey and Bridge, from Lambeth
Private Collection
The Dover Mail, Dover Castle in the Distance
Private Collection
Rochester Cathedral and Castle, from the North East
Eton College, Windsor
Worcester, from the River Severn
Indianapolis Museum of Art at Newfields
Lake Windermere and Belle Isle
Wordsworth Grasmere (Dove Cottage and Wordsworth Museum)
London Bridge, from the South Bank
Private Collection
The Demolition of a Building, Said to Be Part of the Ruins of Old Drury Lane Theatre
Private Collection
Dover Castle: The Constable's Tower
Untraced Works
A Cottage on the Solent
Birmingham Museums & Art Gallery
Hereford Cathedral, from the River Wye
Hereford Museum and Art Gallery
Chepstow Castle, on the River Wye
Victoria and Albert Museum, London
Warehouse and Shipping at Wapping
Leicester Museum & Art Gallery
A Distant View of Hereford Cathedral
Private Collection
The Gatehouse and Barbican, Warwick Castle
Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco
Chepstow Castle, from the River Wye
Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
The Interior of a Ruined Abbey Church
Private Collection
The Head of Ullswater, from Goborrow Park
Private Collection
Part of the Ruins of Roche Abbey
Private Collection
The Transept of St Saviour’s, Southwark
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
Part of the Ruins of the Savoy Palace, Westminster Bridge Beyond
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
Durham Cathedral, from the River Wear
Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle upon Tyne
All Saints' Church, Marlow
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester
Caesar’s Tower, Warwick Castle
Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
An Interior View of the Ruins of the Savoy Hospital
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
A Bronze Age Palstave and a Roman Bow Brooch
Society of Antiquaries of London
All Saints' Church, Marlow
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
Unidentified Monastic Ruins next to a River
Private Collection
Westminster, from the Ruins of the Savoy
National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh
Manchester: Chetham’s College from Hunt’s Bank, with the Bridge over the River Irwell
Untraced Works
Part of the Ruins of the Savoy Palace, Westminster Bridge Beyond
Private Collection
The Oriel Window of the Great Hall of Eltham Palace
Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
An Exterior View of Part of the Ruins of the Savoy Hospital
Private Collection
A Distant View of Marlow, from the River Thames
The Huntington Library, Art Museum and Botanical Gardens, San Marino
A Distant View of Marlow, from the River Thames
Private Collection
An Interior View of the Ruins of the Savoy Hospital
Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
Part of the Ruins of the Savoy Palace, Westminster Bridge Beyond
Private Collection
Buildings in the Process of Demolition, Said to Be the Ruins of the Savoy Palace
Tate, London
An Exterior View of Part of the Ruins of the Savoy Hospital
Tate, London
An Interior View of the Ruins of the Savoy Hospital
Tate, London
St Mary’s Church, Monken Hadley
Tate, London
An Exterior View of the Great Hall of Eltham Palace
Victoria and Albert Museum, London
The Interior of the Great Hall of Eltham Palace
Private Collection
The Interior of the Great Hall of Eltham Palace
Private Collection
The Interior of the Great Hall of Eltham Palace
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
St Mary's Church, Putney High Street
Private Collection
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About this Work
This view of Lake Windermere from the Great Boathouse was produced during the period of Girtin’s apprenticeship to Edward Dayes (1763–1804). Unlike in the case of its probable pair, Lake Windermere and Belle Isle (TG0078), the source of the work has not been traced; however, because the fifteen-year-old artist could not have visited the Lake District, this work too was almost certainly made after a sketch produced by Dayes during his 1789 trip to the picturesque region. The paired views of Windermere are roughly the same size, are taken from locations just a few kilometres apart and share a number of compositional elements. The round temple on Belle Isle, which is visible on the lake in the companion watercolour, is here glimpsed through the trees in the centre, whilst the boathouse from which this view was taken can be seen to the right of the Dayes composition on which Girtin based Lake Windermere and Belle Isle (see comparative image TG0078), though Girtin obscured the unpicturesque structure with trees in his watercolour. The two Windermere scenes are also closely related stylistically and contain a number of features common to watercolours made by Girtin during his apprenticeship to Dayes. Prominent amongst these are the dark foregrounds, which employ the same Dayesian conventions to represent the foliage and the gently rippling water, with the latter effect closely resembling the use of parallel lengths of colour for the river in Rochester Castle, from the River Medway (TG0057). Again, the brightly lit topographical subject in the middle distance, surmounted by a gentle skyscape depicted by fluid washes of blue, recurs in a wide range of scenes from this period, such as Hereford Cathedral (TG0070) and Rochester, from the North (TG0071).
Early Lake District views such as this work and its pair initially struck me as being teaching exercises in which the apprentice tried out the skills passed on from his master (Smith, 2002b, p.45). It is certainly true that such watercolours were not made as commissions, but the discovery during the writing of this online catalogue of the details of a series of very early sales of Girtin’s works, consigned to the auctioneers by Dayes himself, has opened up a different possibility. Greenwood’s sale on 17 November 1791 included as lot 50 ‘Ulswater, and Windermere lakes’ by Girtin, and again on 7 February 1793, lot 89 by Girtin was described as ‘Two, views in Cumberland’ (Exhibitions: Greenwood, 17 November 1791; Greenwood, 7 February 1793). Although there is no way of knowing whether this work was included in these sales, or another that contained two views ‘on the Lakes’ in June 1791 (Exhibitions: Greenwood, 10 June 1791), it is clear that Dayes had quickly realised that there was a ready market for Lake District scenes by his apprentice made after his own compositions. The dates of the sales, coinciding with the premature end of Girtin’s apprenticeship, suggest another motivation, however, with Dayes presumably seeking financial compensation for the impending loss of his pupil’s labour.
1791 - 1792
Lake Windermere and Belle Isle
TG0078
1791 - 1792
Lake Windermere and Belle Isle
TG0078
(?) 1791
Rochester Castle, from the River Medway
TG0057
1792 - 1793
Hereford Cathedral
TG0070
1791 - 1792
Rochester, from the North
TG0071