Dated Watercolours

• Rhuddlan Castle, from the River Clwyd (TG1302)
• Pont Seiont, Looking towards Mynydd Mawr (Big Mountain) (TG1328)
• Durham Cathedral and Castle, from the River Wear (TG1074)

Dated Sketch

• Middleham Village, with the Castle Beyond (TG1508)

1 January 1799

Appleby (see print after TG0267) is published in The Copper-Plate Magazine (Walker, 1792–1802).

10 January 1799

Boston Church (see print after TG1027) is published in Bartholomew Howlett’s A Selection of Views in the County of Lincoln (Howlett, 1805).

18 January 1799

Thomas Holcroft, Memoirs of the Late Thomas Holcroft, Written by Himself, and Continued to the Time of His Death, from His Diary, Notes, and Other Papers (Holcroft, 1816, vol.3, p.129)

Girton, a landscape designer, looked at my pictures, and praised them highly. After the Wilsons, his attention was most deeply attracted by the landscape by Artois.

This is from an entry in the diary of the dramatist Thomas Holcroft (1745–1809), whose portrait was painted by Girtin and Holcroft’s mutual friend John Opie (1761–1807) (see TG1930). Prior to his departure for Hamburg in May 1799, Holcroft held a sale at Phillips on 9 March, when he tried to sell over a hundred paintings (according to the diary, thirty-seven were unsold). These included, as lot 60 by Jacques d’Arthois (c.1613–86), ‘Landscape and figures. One of the finest pictures by this master that has ever been brought before the public, and in perfect preservation’; this was unsold with a reserve of £7 10s. The paintings by Richard Wilson (1713–82) included, as lot 52, ‘Landscape and figures, a noble composition’, unsold at £9 19s, and lot 70, ‘Sion house, seen from Richmond gardens’, which again did not find a buyer at £33 12s. Frustratingly, it has not been possible to trace the landscape by d’Arthois or to establish whether the view of Syon House on the river Thames was one of the four versions of the composition recorded in Wilson Online (P88, P88A, P88C and P88D).

21 January 1799

Kenneth Garlick and others, eds., The Diary of Joseph Farington, vol.4, p.1143 (Farington, Diary, 21 January 1799)

Joseph Farington (1747–1821) calls on James Northcote (1746–1831) to talk about the forthcoming Royal Academy election. Northcote is recorded as having doubts about the claims of William Daniell (1769–1837) since Northcote did not think Daniell 

had much power in the Art, that there is nothing that is peculiar or extraordinary in his pictures, – whereas in those of Turner & the drawings of Girtin, there is evidently genius & feeling, from which much may be expected.

2 February 1799

An untraced manuscript sold in 1905 records an 'Autograph Bill to Mr. Molteno, signature from an account dated Feb. 2 1799' (Sotheby's, 18–20 December 1905). This was the printseller Anthony Molteno (c.1751–1816).

9 February 1799

Kenneth Garlick and others, eds., The Diary of Joseph Farington, vol.4, p.1154 (Farington, Diary, 9 February 1799)

At a dinner with George Dance (1741–1825), Joseph Farington (1747–1821) records that the artist John Hoppner (1758–1810)

told me Mr. Lascelles as well as Lady Sutherland are disposed to set up Girtin against Turner – who they say effects his purpose by industry – the former more genius – Turner finishes too much.

Edward Lascelles (1764–1814) and Elizabeth Leveson-Gower, later Duchess of Sutherland (1765–1839), both commissioned works from Girtin as well as taking lessons from him. Lascelles continued to patronise Turner, though his support for the artist tailed off in comparison with the consistent patronage he afforded to Girtin across the latter’s career.

15 February 1799

Edward Lascelles (1764–1814) pays Girtin thirty-two guineas for drawings (Leeds City Archive Department, Harewood Papers, Calendar no.191, quoted in Hill, 1995, p.29).

1 March 1799

Kingswere (see print after TG1265) is published in The Copper-Plate Magazine (Walker, 1792–1802).

22 April 1799

Kenneth Garlick and others, eds., The Diary of Joseph Farington, vol.4, p.1207 (Farington, Diary, 22 April 1799)

Joseph Farington (1747–1821) reports news that:

Lord Elgin was going to Constantinople & wishes to carry a young artist with him. Smith proposed William Daniell, but Daniell declined it, & proposed Richd. Smirke. I stated what appeared to me to be the advantages & disadvantages, and thought on the whole the offer was elligible.

25 April 1799

Kenneth Garlick and others, eds., The Diary of Joseph Farington, vol.4, p.1211 (Farington, Diary, 25 April 1799)

Joseph Farington (1747–1821) records that:

Smirke called – had seen C Greville abt. Lord Elgin, – there is reason to believe that Lord Elgin has mean ideas of what ought to be given to an artist for accompanying him, ideas inculcated by Sir Robt. Ainslie, who had Meyers with him at a very cheap rate.

27 April 1799

Kenneth Garlick and others, eds., The Diary of Joseph Farington, vol.4, p.1212 (Farington, Diary, 27 April 1799)

Joseph Farington (1747–1821) records that:

Smirke told me Lord Elgin had declined Richard Smirkes offer to go with his Lordship to Turkey. – Turner demanded £400 a year as a Salary if He went.

April–July 1799

Royal Academy of Arts, London, The Exhibition of the Royal Academy, M,DCC,XCVIX: The Thirty-First

Girtin’s address is given as ‘6, Long Acre’. His exhibits are listed as:

Council Room

• 341 – ‘A mill in Essex’ (?TG1416)
• 347 – ‘Beth Kellert, North Wales’ (TG1322 or TG1330)
• 381 – ‘Bethkellert, North Wales’ (TG1322 or TG1330)
• 396 – ‘Warkworth Hermitage, Northumberland’ (TG1096)
• 398 – ‘A study from Nature’
• 419 – ‘Tatershall Castle, Lincolnshire, for Howlet’s Views’ (TG1030 or TG1031)

By 1799 Girtin’s great contemporary Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775–1851) was concentrating more on his work in oils, showing five examples, nonetheless he still contributed six watercolours. The catalogue lists:

• 325 – ‘Sunny morning – the cattle by S. Gilpin, R.A.’
• 326 – ‘Abergavenny bridge, Monmouthshire, clearing up after a showery day’
• 327 – ‘Inside of the chapter-house of Salisbury cathedral’
• 335 – ‘West front of Salisbury cathedral
• 340 – ‘Caernarvon castle’
• 356 – ‘Morning, from Dr. Langhorne’s Visions of Fancy’
• 434 – ‘Warkworth Castle, Northumberland – thunder storm approaching at sun-set’

27–30 April 1799

‘Royal Academy’, Whitehall Evening Post, 27–30 April 1799, p.2

There are two young Artists who display the most promising talents in this line of the Arts – Mr. Turner and Mr. Girtin. Their specimens are exquisite.

29 April 1799

‘Royal Academy’, The True Briton, 29 April 1799, p.3 (repeated in ‘Royal Academy’, Lloyds Evening Post, 6–8 May 1799, p.4)

The Council-Room abounds with admirable Drawings by WESTALL, TURNER, GIRTIN, GILPIN, EDRIDGE, &c. &c.

30 April 1799

‘Royal Academy’, The Morning Chronicle, 30 April 1799, p.3

The paper includes a favourable report of the work of

the younger Artists, with whose progress every amateur must be delighted. When we see the English School producing such Students as TURNER and GIRTIN, CLARKE, and twenty others who distinguish themselves in this Exhibition, we cannot subscribe to the charges which Mr. BARRY has intemperately brought against the Institution.

1 May 1799

Tattershall Castle (see print after TG1030) is published in Bartholomew Howlett’s A Selection of Views in the County of Lincoln (Howlett, 1805).

1 May 1799

‘Royal Academy’, The Morning Herald, 1 May 1799, p.3 (1799 – Item 1)

Referring to Warkworth Hermitage (TG1096):

No.396. ‘Warkworth Hermitage, Northumberland.’ This and several other pictures of a similar description, by GIRTIN, add not a little to the professional reputation of that Gentleman. The views are exquisitely fine, and the perspectives executed in the first style of excellence.

4–7 May 1799

The London Chronicle, 4–7 May, p.434 (repeated in The Morning Herald, 6 May 1799, p.3)

The Earl of Elgin, after the purposes of his mission to Constantinople shall be answered, proposes to take a survey of the Greek Islands, and to give to Europe a more perfect knowledge of their modern state. He has for this purpose invited artists of celebrity to accompany him. Mr. Girton, the young Gentleman whose drawings are so much admired in this year’s exhibition, and Mr. Smirke, junior, are already engaged to accompany his Lordship on this expedition.

8–10 May 1799

‘Royal Academy. Exhibition, 1799’, The London Packet, 8–10 May 1799, p.1 (1799 – Item 2)

Referring to A Mountain View, near Beddgelert (TG1322):

347. – View in Wales. – T. GIRTIN. This is the production of a young artist of much promise. Nature has in it been contemplated with an eye of taste, and her beauties are pourtayed by the hand of a master.

9 May 1799

Kenneth Garlick and others, eds., The Diary of Joseph Farington, vol.4, p.1220 (Farington, Diary, 9 May 1799)

Girtin is noted by Joseph Farington (1747–1821) as one of the artists who visited ‘Mr. Beckfords … to see the Altieri Claudes’ at 2 Grosvenor Square (Landscape with the Father of Psyche Sacrificing at the Temple of Apollo, 1662; Landscape with the Arrival of Aeneas before the City of Pallanteum, 1675). Others include Thomas Hearne (1744–1817), Michael Rooker (1746–1801), Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775–1851) and John Constable (1776–1837). Amongst the patrons is Girtin’s supporter Sir George Beaumont (1753–1827). The two paintings are now in the Fairhaven Collection at Anglesey Abbey (National Trust, 515656 and 515654). Unlike Turner who was to work for William Beckford (1760–1844) the chance to see the famous landscapes by Claude Lorrain (1604/5–82) had no apparent influence on Girtin.

10–13 May 1799

‘Royal Academy. Remarks – No.III’, Lloyds Evening Post, 10–13 May 1799, p.453 (repeated in The True Briton, 10 May 1799, p.3; ‘Royal Academy’, The Sun, 17 May 1799, p.3) (1799 – Item 3)

Referring to A Mountain View, near Beddgelert (TG1322):

No. 347. – Beth Kellert. – T. Girtin. We do not remember to have seen the name of this Artist before the present year. He is, however, one with whose works we hope to be better acquainted. This Drawing is something in the style of the preceding Artist [Turner], and exhibits all the bold features of genius. The scene here represented is highly romantic, and the objects introduced are all in unison with the character of the piece. Mr. Girtin, we predict, will stand very high indeed in professional reputation.

11 May 1799

Mr. Christie, The … Genuine Sketches, Studies, and Designs from Nature … of … Thos Gainsborough … Many Exquisite Drawings by … Dayes &c., 11 May 1799

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:

• 46 – ‘Two small sketches’. Bought by ‘Pugh’ for 8s
• 50 – ‘Three small sketches’. Bought by ‘Pugh’ for 15s
• 51 – ‘Two ditto’. Bought by ‘Pugh’ for 15s
• 54 – ‘View of Worcester’. Bought by ‘Mander’ (name unclear) for £1 9s
• 55 – ‘Hadley Common, and Malwyd Church’. Bought by ‘Pugh’ for £1 4s

11 May 1799

Girtin’s earliest patron, James Moore (1762–99), dies.

May 1799

Press cutting from an unknown source (Press Cuttings on the Arts, National Art Library, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, vol.3, p.784)

Turner’s Drawings are wonderfully laborious; Girtin’s are bolder, but Rooker’s are nature.

20 May 1799 (Monday Evening)

The first meeting of the Sketching Society takes place at the home of François Louis Thomas Francia (1772–1839). The details are recorded on the back of a drawing made by Francia at the meeting, Landscape Composition: Moonlight (Victoria and Albert Museum, London (477–1883)). (1799 – Item 4)

This drawing was made on Monday May the 20th, 1799, at the room of Robert Ker Porter of No. 16 Great Newport Street, Leicester Square, in the very painting room that formerly was Sir Joshua Reynolds’s, and since has been Dr. Samuel Johnson’s; and for the first time on the above day convened a small and select society of Young Painters under the title (as I give it) of the Brothers; met for the purpose of establishing by practice a school of Historic Landscape, the subjects being designs from poetick passages;

 Ls. Francia.

The Society consists of – Worthington, J. Cs. Denham – Treasr., Rt. Kr. Porter, Ts. Girtin, Ts. Underwood, Ge. Samuel, & Ls Francia Secrety.

One wonders whether the artists were not inspired by the decision of the Royal Academy in the previous year to allow exhibitors to accompany their work with appropriate ‘descriptions’ in the catalogue. Ambitious landscape artists, not least Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775–1851), interpreted this as allowing them to append poetic quotations to their works (Ziff, 1982, pp.2–11).

27 May 1799 (Monday Evening)

The second Sketching Society meeting is held at Thomas Girtin’s accommodation at 6 Long Acre. The source for this information is an unattributed drawing, Hill with Cromlechs by Water, which is inscribed on the back ‘at Mr Girtins May – 27’ (Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens, San Marino (62.78C)).

Summer 1799

Girtin travels to Yorkshire. A pencil drawing of Middleham is dated 1799 (TG1508), and it is likely that he went on to visit Hawes in Wensleydale. Presumably this was at the same time as a visit to Harewood, in which case this is the likeliest time for him to have gathered material for the 1800–1802 views of Kirkstall; Ripon and Knaresborough are also possible destinations. A group of pencil sketches, each 11.4 cm (4 ½ in) high, appear to date from this trip, and Girtin made replicas of some of these, including the view of Middleham (TG1620).

July and August 1799

Robert Ker Porter (1777–1842) and Thomas Richard Underwood (1772–1836) undertake a tour of North Wales, with the former keeping an entertaining and informative journal of their ‘6 week Zig Zag of Human Incidents’ (Porter, 1799, f.127). Along the route they meet up with another member of the Sketching Society, François Louis Thomas Francia (1772–1839), along with John Varley (1778–1842) and Francis Nicholson (1753–1844). Their anti-clockwise route through central Wales and along the north coast takes in many of the sites visited by Girtin and it is possible that it is based on his experience in the previous summer. Certainly, Porter’s text gives a unique flavour of the sociable nature of the artist’s tour at this date. Joseph Farington (1747–1821) noted in his diary that Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775–1851) returned this year to ‘Bethgellert’ and that ‘7 Artists were at one time in the course of the summer at that place’ (Farington, Diary, 16 October 1799).

6 July 1799

Kenneth Garlick and others, eds., The Diary of Joseph Farington, vol.4, p.1249 (Farington, Diary, 6 July 1799)

Turner called this morning … Smirke & I, on our way to the Academy, drank tea with him, and looked over his sketch books. He said He had 60 drawings now bespoke by different persons.

8 July 1799

Kenneth Garlick and others, eds., The Diary of Joseph Farington, vol.4, p.1250 (Farington, Diary, 8 July 1799)

Turner I drank tea with Smirke there, – who chose for me as a subject to be drawn by Turner, “the view of Lodore”, – and for himself the “view of Richmond in Yorkshire”.

21 July 1799

Kenneth Garlick and others, eds., The Diary of Joseph Farington, vol.4, p.1255 (Farington, Diary, 21 July 1799)

Turner came to tea – He told me He has no systematic process for making Drawings, – He avoids any particular mode that He may not fall into manner. By washing and occasionally rubbing out, He at last expresses in some degree the idea in his mind.

9 September 1799 (Monday Evening)

Resumption of the meetings of the Sketching Society, recorded in the Minute Book (Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens, San Marino (62.78)). (1799 – Item 5)

Laws of the Society

That the Society shall meet at seven oClock at the house of each member alternatively every Saturday and the member at whose house the said Society shall select a subject from any Author for the evening’s practice which shall be more particularly tending to Landscape.

That if any member objects in any way to the said Subject he shall be fined one Shilling.

That at ten oClock all drawing shall cease when simple fare shall be produced with Ale & Porter.

That the Society shall break up exactly at Eleven oClock.

That in case of non-attendance without a previous excuse, which must be deemed sufficient by the Society the member shall be fined two shillings & six pence.

That a list of the members be given to each arranged as their respective evening shall arrive.

That when a sum shall be collected by fines it shall be disposed of as the Society shall determine.

That the Subject [illegible] occurrences of the evening which concern the Society shall be duly registered in the Society’s book.

That all the productions of the evening shall be given to the President of the night.

A meeting is held at the home of Robert Ker Porter (1777–1842). Also present are Thomas Richard Underwood (1772–1836), John Charles Denham (1777–1867), George Samuel (active 1785–1823), Girtin and Francia.

The passage set is Ossian’s (James Macpherson) Temora (1763), Book 4:

We came to the hall of the King, where it rose in the midst of rocks; rocks, on whose dark sides were the marks of streams of old. Broad oaks bend around with their moss: the thick birch waves its green head. Half-hid, in her shadowy grove, Rosciana raised the song. Her white hands rose on the harp. I beheld her blue-rolling eyes. She was like a spirit of heaven half-folded in the skirt of a cloud.

28 September 1799 (Saturday Evening)

A Sketching Society meeting is recorded in the Minute Book and a set of drawings from George Samuel’s collection (Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens, San Marino). The meeting is held at the residence of George Samuel (active 1785–1823). Also present are Robert Ker Porter (1777–1842), Thomas Richard Underwood (1772–1836), Girtin, John Charles Denham (1777–1867), François Louis Thomas Francia (1772–1839) and Paul Sandby Munn (1773–1845).

The passage set is from William Cowper’s The Task (1785), book 5 (The Winter Morning Walk), lines 93–127:

On the flood,

Indurated and fast, the snowy weight,

Lies undissolv’d: while silently beneath,

And unperceiv’d, the current steals away.

Not so where, scornful of a check, it leaps

The mill-dam, dashes on the restless wheel,

And wantons in the pebbly gulph below.

No frost can bind it there; its utmost force

Can but arrest the light and smoky mist

That in its fall the liquid sheet throws wide.

And see where it has hung the embroider’d banks

With forms so various, that no pow’r of art,

The pencil or the pen, may trace the scene!

Here glittering turrets rise up bearing high

(Fantastic misarrangement!) on the roof

Large growth of what may seem the sparkling trees

And shrubs of fairy land. The crystal drops

That trickle down the branches, fast congeal’d,

Shoot into pillars of pellucid length,

And prop the pile they but adorn’d before.

Here grotto within grotto safe defies

The sun-beam; there, emboss’d and fretted wild,

The growing wonder takes a thousand shapes

Capricious, in which fancy seeks in vain

The likeness of some object seen before.

1 October 1799

Louth Church (see print after TG1029) is published in Bartholomew Howlett’s A Selection of Views in the County of Lincoln (Howlett, 1805).

5 October 1799 (Saturday Evening)

A Sketching Society meeting is held at the accommodation of Thomas Girtin as recorded in the Minute Book (Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens, San Marino). Also present are Robert Ker Porter (1777–1842), Thomas Richard Underwood (1772–1836), George Samuel (active 1785–1823), John Charles Denham (1777–1867), François Louis Thomas Francia (1772–1839) and Paul Sandby Munn (1773–1845).

The passage set is James Thomson’s Winter from The Seasons (1730), line 303: ‘solitary lake’. The full quote (from the section ‘Husbandman Perishing in the Snow’) reads:

the still unfrozen spring

In the loose marsh or solitary lake,

Where the fresh fountain from the bottom boils.

These check his fearful steps; and down he sinks

Beneath the shelter of the shapeless drift,

Thinking o’er all the bitterness of death.

12 October 1799 (Saturday Evening)

A Sketching Society meeting is held at the home of John Charles Denham (1777–1867). Present are Robert Ker Porter (1777–1842), Thomas Richard Underwood (1772–1836), Girtin, George Samuel (active 1785–1823), François Louis Thomas Francia (1772–1839), Thomas George Worthington (unknown dates) and Paul Sandby Munn (1773–1845). Recorded in the Minute Book (Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens, San Marino).

No subject is recorded.

26 October 1799 (Saturday Evening)

A Sketching Society meeting is held at the home of Thomas Richard Underwood (1772–1836). Also present are Robert Ker Porter (1777–1842), Girtin, George Samuel (active 1785–1823), John Charles Denham (1777–1867), François Louis Thomas Francia (1772–1839), Thomas George Worthington (unknown dates) and Paul Sandby Munn (1773–1845). Recorded in the Minute Book (Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens, San Marino).

The passage set is ‘Udolpho’, presumably from Ann Radcliffe’s The Mysteries of Udolpho (1794).

2 November 1799 (Saturday Evening)

A Sketching Society meeting recorded in the Minute Book (Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens, San Marino). The meeting is held at the house of Robert Ker Porteris  (1777–1842). Also present are Thomas Richard Underwood (1772–1836), Girtin, George Samuel (active 1785–1823), John Charles Denham (1777–1867), François Louis Thomas Francia (1772–1839), Thomas George Worthington (unknown dates) and Paul Sandby Munn (1773–1845).

The passage set is ‘Mount Vesuv’, possibly from James Thomson’s Liberty; A Poem (Part I, ll.280–81) or from Thomas Gisborne’s Walks in the Forest (Walk the Fourth: Autumn: Gisborne, 1799, pp.66–67).

4 November 1799

Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775–1851) is elected an Associate of the Royal Academy.

9 November 1799 (Saturday Evening)

A Sketching Society meeting is recorded in the Minute Book (Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens, San Marino). The meeting is held at the home of Thomas Girtin. Also present are Thomas Richard Underwood (1772–1836), George Samuel (active 1785–1823), John Charles Denham (1777–1867) and Paul Sandby Munn (1773–1845).

The passage set is from Oliver Goldsmith’s The Traveller (1764), verse 4:

E’en now, where Alpine solitudes ascend,

I set me down a pensive hour to spend;

And plac’d on high above the storm’s career;

Look downward where an hundred realms appear;

Lakes, forests, cities, plains extending wide,

The pomp of kings, the shepherd’s humbler pride.

 

16 November 1799

Kenneth Garlick and others, eds., The Diary of Joseph Farington, vol.4, p.1303 (Farington, Diary, 16 November 1799)

Turner called, He reprobated the mechanically, systematic process of drawing practised by Smith & from him so generally diffused. He thinks it can produce nothing but manner and sameness – The practise of [blank] is still more vicious. – Turner has no settled process but drives the colours abt. till He has expressed the idea in his mind.

23 November 1799 (Saturday Evening)

A Sketching Society meeting is held at the home of John Charles Denham (1777–1867). Also present are Robert Ker Porter (1777–1842), Thomas Richard Underwood (1772–1836), Girtin, George Samuel (active 1785–1823), François Louis Thomas Francia (1772–1839) and Paul Sandby Munn (1773–1845). Recorded in the Minute Book (Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens, San Marino).

The passage set is from John Cunningham’s A Landscape from Poems, Chiefly Pastoral (1766), verse 6:

Shiver’d by a thunderstroke

From the mountain’s misty ridge,

O’er the brook a ruin’d oak

Near the farm-house forms a bridge.

30 November 1799 (Saturday Evening)

A Sketching Society meeting is held at the rooms of François Louis Thomas Francia (1772–1839). Also present are Robert Ker Porter (1777–1842), Thomas Richard Underwood (1772–1836), Girtin, John Charles Denham (1777–1867), Thomas George Worthington (unknown dates) and Paul Sandby Munn (1773–1845). Recorded in the Minute Book (Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens, San Marino).

The passage set is from David Mallet’s Edwin and Emma (1760), verse 1:

Far in the windings of a vale,

Fast by a shelt’ring wood,

The safe retreat of Health and Peace,

A humble cottage stood.

7 December 1799 (Saturday Evening)

A Sketching Society meeting is recorded in the Minute Book (Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens, San Marino) with additional details from a drawing by Paul Sandby Munn dated 1800 but inscribed on the back with the date of the meeting and the verse chosen. The meeting is held at the house of Thomas George Worthington (unknown dates). Also present are Robert Ker Porter (1777–1842), Thomas Richard Underwood (1772–1836), Girtin, George Samuel (active 1785–1823), John Charles Denham (1777–1867), François Louis Thomas Francia (1772–1839) and Paul Sandby Munn (1773–1845).

The passage set is John Cunningham’s A Landscape from Poems, Chiefly Pastoral (1766), verse 9:

High upon the daisy’d hill,

Rising from the slope of trees,

How the wings of yonder mill

Labour in the busy breese!

14 December 1799

Rosehanna (now known as Rose Hannah) Girtin (unknown dates), the artist’s widowed mother, marries Thomas Vaughan (unknown dates) at St Martin-in-the-Fields. He is listed in Kent’s London Directory of 1799 as ‘Thomas Vaughan & Sons, Pattern Drawer, 36 Duke Street, Smithfield’.

28 December 1799 (Saturday Evening)

A Sketching Society meeting is recorded in the Minute Book (Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens, San Marino) with additional details from works in the Oppé collection, now at Tate Britain (see TG1502 comparatives 1 and 2). The meeting is held at the home of Robert Ker Porter (1777–1842). Also present are Girtin (crossed out), John Sell Cotman (1782–1842), Thomas George Worthington (unknown dates), John Charles Denham (1777–1867) and Paul Sandby Munn (1773–1845).

The passage set is possibly Porter’s own text:

The high embattled walls of the castle were seen rising from a rock which stood in the midst of the Lake; a heavy draw bridge united it with the shore whose stupendous precipices were lost in awful grandeur amidst the bosom of the waters, the surrounding country was wild & barren, no sound was heard to break the solemn peace of the moment save the distant footfall of the solitary centinel.

31 December 1799

John Girtin (1773–1821) buys ‘sundry articles of Household furniture and other things’ from Thomas for £32 3s 6d, signifying the end of their joint tenancy of the house at 6 Long Acre, Covent Garden. John also pays the ‘Balance of Exp.s for Housekeeping at Long Acre’ – £19 11s 2d (Chancery, Income and Expenses, 1804).