This simple outline drawing of the view through two arches of the bridge over the river Wharfe at Wetherby, in Yorkshire, was used by Girtin as the basis for two almost identical studio watercolours depicting the mills that were used to grind corn and rape at this date (TG1643 and TG1644). These were probably painted in 1800, and the sketch itself appears to have been executed in the previous year, when the artist based himself at the home of his patron Edward Lascelles (1764–1814) at Harewood House. From here, Girtin undertook a number of excursions to make studies of local scenes, many of which were subsequently realised as commissions for Lascelles, including some of his most important works. Many of the drawings Girtin executed in 1799 appear to have come from a book that was made up from sheets of wove paper that measure 4 ½ in (11.4 cm) in height. Although this drawing is on a laid paper, the size is the same, and it may have been removed from the same source. As the paper historian Peter Bower has argued, it is unlikely that such a book was produced commercially, and it may be that the artist himself assembled sheets of paper into a convenient gathering, just as he seems to have done with the Whitworth Book of Drawings (TG1323, TG1324 and TG1600–1625), which also includes a number of different papers (Bower, 2002, p.141). 

Overlaying images of the finished watercolours and the on-the-spot sketch produced by Girtin at Wetherby illustrates how closely the artist followed his original thoughts. He cut the composition to the left and extended the arch opening to the right, making visible more of the mills that bordered the Wharfe, but otherwise, the watercolours follow the pencil outline down to repeating the same figures washing clothes in the river. It is a useful reminder that in addition to recording the architectural and landscape details of a scene, Girtin’s on-the-spot sketches were carefully composed with a finished watercolour generally in mind.

(?) 1800

Wetherby: Looking through the Bridge to the Mills

TG1643

(?) 1800

Wetherby: Looking through the Bridge to the Mills

TG1644