Dated Watercolours

• Bamburgh Castle, from the Village (TG1459)
• An Interior View of the Ruins of Lindisfarne Priory Church (TG1107)

2 January 1797

Manchester (see print after TG0257) is published in The Copper-Plate Magazine (Walker, 1792–1802).

1 February 1797

Lincoln Cathedral (see print after TG1006) is published in The Copper-Plate Magazine (Walker, 1792–1802).

1 March 1797

Exeter (see print after TG0092) is published in The Copper-Plate Magazine (Walker, 1792–1802).

Duff-House, Bamffshire (see print after TG0184) is published in The Copper-Plate Magazine (Walker, 1792–1802).

4 March 1797

Mr King, Drawings, A Very Fine Collection of Drawings, Etchings & Prints, London, 1–4 March 1797

Day 4

Includes works by Thomas Girtin:

• 27 – ‘Three, Landscapes, in water colours, by Girtin’. Sold for 12s
• 28 – ‘Five, Ditto’. Sold for 7s 6d

25 March 1797

Lincoln (see print after TG1010) is published in Bartholomew Howlett’s A Selection of Views in the County of Lincoln (Howlett, 1805).

14 April 1797

Kenneth Garlick and others, eds., The Diary of Joseph Farington (Farington, Diary, 14 April 1797)

Dining at the home of Dr Thomas Monro (1759–1833) with John Henderson (1764–1843), Joseph Farington (1747–1821) records that

‘Dr. Monros house is full of drawings. In the dining Parlour 90 drawings framed & glazed are hung up, – and in the Drawing room 120. – They consist of drawings of Hearne, Barrett, Smith, Laporte, Turner, Wheatley, Girtin.

William Foxley-Norris, ‘Dr Monro’, Old Water-Colour Society’s Club Annual Volume, vol.2, 1924–25, p.3 (Foxley-Norris, 1924–25)

Family history, as recorded by William Foxley-Norris (1859–1937), describes a more unusual arrangement.

My mother who was his grand-daughter, has often described to me the manner in which he would cover the walls of his room at Bushey with sketches by Gainsborough, Turner, Girtin, and others. These sketches he pasted on to the wall side by side, neither mounted nor framed, and he would nail up strips of gilt beading to divide the one from the other, and give the appearance of frames.

April–July 1797

Royal Academy of Arts, London, The Exhibition of the Royal Academy, M,DCC,XCVII: The Twenty-Ninth

Thomas Girtin’s address is given as ‘St Martin’s-le-Grand’. His exhibits are listed as:

Council Room

• 423 – ‘View of Jedborough Abbey, Scotland’ (TG1229 or TG1231)
• 428 – ‘Inside of St. Alban’s Cathedral Church’ (TG1040)
• 434 – ‘St. Cuthbert’s Cathedral, Holy Island’ (TG1107 or TG1108)
• 466 – ‘View of Jedborough Abbey’ (TG1229 or TG1231)
• 486 – ‘View of York’ (probably TG1046, TG1047, TG1050 or TG1655)
• 489 – ‘View of York’ (probably TG1046, TG1047, TG1050 or TG1655)
• 499 – ‘View of York’ (probably TG1046, TG1047, TG1050 or TG1655)

Antique Academy

• 726 – ‘View of York’ (probably TG1046, TG1047, TG1050 or TG1655)

Library

• 763 – ‘St. Cuthbert’s Cathedral, Holy Island’ (TG1107 or TG1108)
• 789 – ‘View of Ouse Bridge, York’ (?TG1041)

1797 was the only year in which Thomas Girtin displayed more works at the Academy than his great contemporary, Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775–1851). Perhaps not surprisingly this prompted at least one critic to compare the artist’s works in what was to become a common strategy amongst the anonymous reviewers of the period. In addition to two oil paintings, Turner’s watercolours are listed in the catalogue as:

• 427 – ‘Trancept of Ewenny Priory, Glamorganshire’
• 450 – ‘Choir of Salisbury Cathedral’
• 464 – ‘Ely Cathedral, South Trancept’
• 517 – ‘North porch of Salisbury Cathedral’

1 May 1797

Warkworth (see print after TG1099) is published in The Copper-Plate Magazine (Walker, 1792–1802).

Totness (see print after TG1272) is published in The Copper-Plate Magazine (Walker, 1792–1802).

19 May 1797

Messrs. Christie, Sharp, and Harper, A Catalogue of a Capital Assemblage of High-Finished Drawings and Some Few Pictures by Eminent Modern Artists: Collected by a Gentleman of the Most Approved Taste in the Fine Arts, 19–20 May 1797

The annotated copy of the catalogue in the archive of Christie’s, London, notes the seller as Dr Thomas Monro (1759–1833). Includes works by Thomas Girtin:

• 2 – ‘Two views in Switzerland’. Sold for 8s
• 4 – ‘Two views of Hampstead’. Sold for 11s
• 7 – ‘St. Saviour’s Church, Southwark’. Sold for 14s

‘Framed and Glazed’

• 20 – ‘Two landscapes’. Sold for 13s

20–23 May 1797

Anonymous, ‘Exhibition of Paintings’, St. James’s Chronicle, 20–23 May 1797, p.4

Mr. GIRTIN’S Drawings, in general, appear to be formed on the style of TURNER; but though they possess considerable merit, it is evident that the Artist is careless in the detail and finishing.

20 May 1797

Messrs. Christie, Sharp, and Harper, A Catalogue of a Capital Assemblage of High-Finished Drawings and Some Few Pictures by Eminent Modern Artists: Collected by a Gentleman of the Most Approved Taste in the Fine Arts, 19–20 May 1797

The annotated copy of the catalogue in the archive of Christie’s, London, notes the seller as Dr Thomas Monro (1759–1833). Includes works by Thomas Girtin:

• 1 – ‘Two views in the Tyrol and Italy’. Bought by ‘Lawson’ for £2 2s
• 2 – ‘Three of buildings’, one by ‘Laporte’. Unsold at a reserve of 10s
• 8 – ‘Croydon church, and a cottage scene’. Bought by ‘Lawson’ for £1 5s
• 9 – ‘Bridge at Newark’. Sold for £1 11s 6d
• 13 – ‘Two views in France’. Sold for £2 2s
• 14 – ‘One ditto’. Sold for £1 2s

4 June 1797

Kenneth Garlick and others, eds., The Diary of Joseph Farington (Farington, Diary, 4 June 1797)

Joseph Farington (1747–1821) notes that

Academy I went to & looked over pictures – Girtins drawings 18 Inches 4 guineas

25 June 1797

Langton Hall (see print after TG1028) is published in Bartholomew Howlett’s A Selection of Views in the County of Lincoln (Howlett, 1805).

1 July 1797

Newcastle, upon Tyne (see print after TG1081) is published in The Copper-Plate Magazine (Walker, 1792–1802).

22 August 1797

Croyland Abbey (see print after TG0286) is published in Bartholomew Howlett’s A Selection of Views in the County of Lincoln (Howlett, 1805).

1 September 1797

Bamborough-Castle, Northumberland (see print after TG1459) is published in The Copper-Plate Magazine (Walker, 1792–1802).

19 September 1797

Harrow on the Hill (see print after TG0187) is published anonymously by Thomas Brandard (unknown dates) to illustrate Daniel Lysons’ Environs of London, vol.2 (Lysons, 1792–96).

1 November 1797

Marlow-Bridge, Buckinghamshire (see print after TG0344a) is published in The Copper-Plate Magazine (Walker, 1792–1802).

Autumn 1797

Thomas Girtin tours the West Country, travelling clockwise and probably visiting Lulworth, Weymouth, Abbotsbury and Lyme Regis with an extended stay at Exeter in early November. Continuing westwards, the artist probably stops along the Exe, visiting in turn Exmouth, Starcross, Teignmouth, Shaldon, Kingswear, Berry Pomeroy, Totnes, Sharpham, Stonehouse and Plymouth before moving inland from the southern coast to Lydford and Okehampton, finally arriving at Appledore and the Taw river and estuary in late November. The return leg of the journey may have included visits to Wells and Bristol. Possible stops on the outward or return journey include Malmesbury, Southampton and Winchester.

6 November 1797

John Girtin (1773–1821) records of the artist that ‘a £5 note sent him to Exeter’ (Chancery, Income and Expenses, 1804).

21 November 1797

John Girtin (1773–1821) records that he sent the artist five pounds ‘to Biddeford’ and that three shillings were added to this to cover the cost ‘for porterage of the Sketch of Exeter Cathedral’ (Chancery, Income and Expenses, 1804). This presumably refers to the watercolour of the interior of Exeter cathedral (TG1256) commissioned by James Moore (1762–99).

1 December 1797

Jedburgh Abbey, Roxburghshire (see print after TG0104) is published in The Copper-Plate Magazine (Walker, 1792–1802).