This sketch, showing two of the mills alongside the river Wharfe, is one of a group of seven studies of roughly the same size that show scenes in or near Wetherby (TG1641 and TG1646), Knaresborough and the river Nidd (TG1539, TG1542 and TG1589), and the nearby village of Spofforth (TG1586). The sketches, all from the same private collection, appear to be part of a larger group of studies that Girtin executed in the vicinity of Harewood House, probably on his visit to Yorkshire in the summer of 1799 or 1800. Each of the drawings was executed on a piece of wove paper of roughly the same vertical dimensions, and there is some evidence that they were removed from a sketchbook, though when, and by whom, is not clear. Two other drawings on the same paper have matching holes, which suggests that they had been bound into a book (TG1508a and TG1525). One of these sketches – Chelsea Reach, Looking towards Battersea (TG1525) – is missing a small section, which, as a later copy indicates (TG1601), must have strayed onto the opposite page. It seems that on just this one occasion Girtin did execute his sketches in a book, though, as the paper historian Peter Bower has argued, it is unlikely that this was made commercially, and it may be that the artist himself assembled sheets of paper into a convenient gathering, which would account for slight variations in their size (Bower, 2002, p.141). Whatever the case, this sheet is likely to have featured amongst the ‘180 Sketches’ or ‘4 little Books partly of sketches and partly blank paper’ that the artist’s brother, John Girtin (1773–1821), recorded taking possession of following the artist’s death in November 1802 and that he subsequently sold on (Chancery, Income and Expenses, 1804).¹

Two of the sketches of the river Wharfe at Wetherby formed the basis of studio watercolours, and one of them, Wetherby: Looking through the Bridge to the Mills (TG1536), is found in two almost identical versions (TG1643 and TG1644). Using the twin arches of the bridge as a framing device, the watercolours feature the same mills seen in this coloured sketch, suggesting that Girtin stood on the bridge to take his unobstructed view. The riverside mills were used to grind corn and rape at this date and they also feature in the other view of the town, Wetherby Bridge and Mills, Looking across the Weir (TG1642).

The colouring on this study, as well as the other studies made in and around Wetherby, is quite crude in places, and it lacks the inventive pattern-making that I associate with Girtin’s colouring on the spot. Indeed, at one time I seriously considered the possibility that the washes of colour on similar sketches were added subsequently to an outline drawing by another hand, and, given that John Girtin had access to the ‘Sketches’ left behind in the studio at his death, it is not impossible that it was he who was responsible, seeking to make the works more saleable. However, the same argument can be made in favour of Girtin’s authorship, and I now suspect that the colouring was added by him in the studio to an on-the-spot outline drawing to enhance the impression of a sketch worked from nature, something that might have had an extra appeal to supportive collectors.

1799 - 1800

Wetherby Bridge and Mills, Looking across the Weir

TG1641

1799 - 1800

Kirk Deighton, near Wetherby

TG1646

1799 - 1800

Knaresborough, from the North West

TG1539

1799 - 1800

Knaresborough, Looking across Bilton Banks

TG1542

1799 - 1800

Buildings on the River Nidd, near Knaresborough

TG1589

1799 - 1800

Spofforth, with the Tower of All Saints Church

TG1586

1799 - 1800

Cottages at Hawes, from Gayle Beck

TG1508a

1799 - 1800

Chelsea Reach, Looking towards Battersea

TG1525

1799 - 1800

Chelsea Reach, Looking towards Battersea

TG1525

(?) 1801

Chelsea Reach, Looking towards Battersea

TG1601

1799 - 1800

Wetherby: Looking through the Bridge to the Mills

TG1536

(?) 1800

Wetherby: Looking through the Bridge to the Mills

TG1643

(?) 1800

Wetherby: Looking through the Bridge to the Mills

TG1644

(?) 1800

Wetherby Bridge and Mills, Looking across the Weir

TG1642