- Description
-
- Creator(s)
- Thomas Girtin (1775-1802)
- Title
-
- Warkworth Church, with the Bridge Beyond
- Date
- 1799 - 1800
- Medium and Support
- Graphite and watercolour on laid paper
- Dimensions
- 27 × 21 cm, 10 ⅝ × 8 ¼ in
- Object Type
- Studio Watercolour
- Subject Terms
- Gothic Architecture: Parish Church; River Scenery; Durham and Northumberland
-
- Collection
- Catalogue Number
- TG1776
- Description Source(s)
- Viewed in 2001, 2018 and 2022
Provenance
Lady Mary Fox; P & D Colnaghi & Co.; bought by Dr John Percy (1817–89), £7, 9 January 1876; his posthumous sale, Christie's, 17 April 1890, lot 518; bought by 'Vokins' for the Museum, £33 12s
Exhibition History
Bristol, 1906, no.63
Bibliography
Davies, 1924, pl.50 as 'Church by a River'; V&A, 1927, p.232 as 'Landscape, with Church Beside a River'; The Connoisseur, vol.88, no.361 (September 1931), p.182; Lambourne and Hamilton, 1980, p.152 as 'formerly attributed to' Thomas Girtin; Hackney, 1990, p.44; V&A Collections Online as 'Landscape, with church beside a river' by Thomas Girtin (Accessed 16/05/2023)
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About this Work
The subject of this badly faded watercolour had hitherto not been identified and this combination of factors no doubt led to doubts about its attribution. The work was bought by the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, as by Girtin, but it was not included in the catalogue of his works published by Thomas Girtin (1874–1960) and David Loshak, and the museum’s latest catalogue of its collection of watercolours lists it as ‘formerly attributed to’ the artist (Girtin and Loshak, 1954; Lambourne and Hamilton, 1980, p.152). Indeed, the artist’s descendant included an image of the work in a file titled ‘Weeds on the Wall’, a collection of watercolours he thought had been wrongly attributed to Girtin, noting that it was probably by John Henderson (1764–1843) (Girtin Archive, 14). However, in a reversal of the more common pattern whereby I tend to be more critical of the sometimes overly enthusiastic appraisals of Girtin and Loshak, I suggest that the de-attribution in this case should be reconsidered. I suspect that the earlier authors did not make sufficient allowance for the way the condition of the watercolour has been badly affected, so much so that the sky has completely disappeared and the remainder of the composition has faded to little more than a dull monochrome – a thin strip to the left that was once protected by a mount hints at what has been lost. The point is that, despite this, there are some fine passages still evident, including the patterns on the wall in the middle ground and the reflections in the water. Combined with the unconventional nature of the composition, this might, on its own, have been enough to suggest that Girtin was the author of the watercolour after all, but the discovery of the location of the river scene during the late stages of the production of this online catalogue has confirmed the attribution. Girtin not only visited Warkworth on his 1796 tour of Northumbria and the Scottish Borders but also portrayed the distinctive spire of St Lawrence’s church in a watercolour dated 1800 (TG1710). Beginning with two views of Warkworth Castle (TG0121 and TG0177), painted after drawings by the amateur artist James Moore (1762–99), Girtin depicted the picturesque town on the river Coquet on at least half a dozen occasions, including in views of the famous Hermitage (TG1096) and the castle again (TG1711), and there now seems little doubt that this watercolour should join what amounts to one of the most significant groups of the artist’s subjects.
It is perhaps not surprising that the subject of this watercolour had not hitherto been recognised since, as a visit to Warkworth confirms, tree growth has long since obscured the view of the church from this angle. It was only the chance discovery of an early photograph (see figure 1) that captured the distinctive alignment of bridge, river and church that resulted in the work’s identification. Therefore, what had initially seemed to my eye to have been either an invented composition or a mix of elements from different locations turned out to be a carefully recorded view that combines the principal elements of two other Warkworth scenes, the aforementioned church and the late fourteenth-century bridge over the river Coquet, known from the engraving published in 1797 (see print after TG1099). The latter fact is significant since it suggests that although this watercolour too is likely to date from around 1800, it was based on a lost sketch made on the 1796 tour.
1800
Warkworth Church
TG1710
1792 - 1793
Warkworth Castle, from the River Coquet
TG0121
1792 - 1793
Warkworth Castle, from the River Coquet
TG0177
1798
Warkworth Hermitage
TG1096
1800 - 1801
Warkworth Castle, from the River Coquet
TG1711
1796 - 1797
The Bridge at Warkworth, with the Castle Beyond
TG1099