May/June 1875
Burlington Fine Arts Club, London, Exhibition of the Works of Thomas Girtin: Born 1773 : Died 1802, exhibition catalogue, 1875
According to the History, Rules, Regulations of the Burlington Fine Arts Club the exhibition attracted 1,863 visitors (Feather, 2014, p.178).
INTRODUCTORY REMARKS
IT is to Thomas Girtin and Joseph William Mallord Turner, more especially to the former, that the great change in the art of Water Colour Painting, from mere tinting with light washes to the employment of local colour, is due.
Eighty years ago Girtin, by his free and bold pencil, his judicious application of colours, then but little used, his remarkable power of producing breadth in the general treatment of his subjects, combined with simplicity of composition, completely revolutionised this method of painting, and founded the school which produced such masters of their Art as John Varley, Peter De Wint, and David Cox.
He threw into his landscapes, as well as into his architectural drawings, grandeur and elevation of sentiment appealing powerfully to the imagination, which recall some of the leading characteristics of the great masters, and afford at the same time a worthy matter for study.
Girtin commenced his studies as a pupil of Dayes, a landscape and miniature painter, and it was then, or shortly afterwards, when associated with Turner as colour washer in the studio of John Raphael Smith, the famous mezzotint engraver and printseller, that he and Turner attracted the notice of two well-known amateurs and collectors, Dr. Munro and Mr.Henderson (the father of I\Ir. John Henderson, of Montague Street, Russell Square). These gentlemen, living on the Adelphi Terrace almost next door to each other, soon discovered the latent genius just developing itself in the two young artists. They opened their houses to them, and gave them free access to their collections. Girtin quickly profited by this kindness; he carefully studied and copied the works of Piranesi, Canaletto, and others, which he found in Mr. Henderson's collection, and thus probably achieved that accurate and careful delineation of outline and figures which is particularly remarkable in all his works. Mr. Henderson not only allowed him to study these works, but employed him to make drawings after these masters, thereby finding him the means to live as well as to study (A series of these beautiful copies are shown in the present exhibition, lent by Mr. John Henderson. Those after Malton, of the Exchange and Mansion House, are particularly interesting).
Girtin's original and bold method of treating his subjects brought him rapidly into notice, and he was much employed in giving lessons and putting in effects to the works of amateurs. Whilst thus employed he went to Scotland with Mr. Moore, a well-known amateur artist and antiquary, and there exist at the present time sketches by Mr. Moore which have been worked upon by Girtin, and may occasionally pass as originals of the master.
He was also at this time engaged by Mr. Walker, an engraver, to make views of English towns and scenery for a forthcoming publication. His drawings of the cathedrals manifest wonderful artistic as well as architectural skill, combined with great precision and firmness of touch, and extraordinary powers of producing the contrasting effects of light and shade.
The following extracts (Biography of Turner and Girtin, in Turner and Girtin's Picturesque Views. Edited by Thomas Miller), giving an account of the materials which Girtin used in producing these effects, are of much interest.
‘It was a great treat to see Girtin at his studies; he was always accessible. When he had accomplished laying on of his sky, he would proceed with great facility in the general arrangement of his tints on the buildings, trees, water, and other objects. Every colour appeared to be placed with a most judicious perception to effecting a general union or harmony. His light stone tints were put in with their washes of Roman ochre, the same mixed with light red, and certain spaces, free from the warm tints, were touched with grey, composed of light red and indigo, or, brighter still, with ultramarine and light red ; the brick buildings with Roman ochre, light red, and lake, and a mixture of Roman ochre, lake, and indigo, or Roman ochre, madder brown, and indigo; also with burnt sienna and Roman ochre, and these colours in all their combinations. For finishing the buildings which came the nearest to the foreground, where the local colour and form were intended to be represented with particular force and effect, Vandyke brown and Cologne earth were combined with these tints, which gave depth and richness of tone, that raised the scale of effect without the least diminution of harmony; on the contrary, the richness of effect was increased from their glowing warmth, by neutralising the previous tones, and by throwing them into their respective distances, or into proper keeping. The trees, which he frequently introduced in his views, exhibiting all the varieties of autumnal hues, he coloured with corresponding harmony to the scale of richness exhibited on his buildings. The greens for these operations were composed of gamboge, indigo, and burnt sienna, occasionally heightened with yellow lake, brown, pink, and gamboge; these mixed sometimes with Prussian blue. The shadows for the trees, indigo, burnt sienna, and a most beautiful shadow tint, composed of grey and madder brown, which, perhaps, is nearer to the general tone of the shadow of trees than any other combinations that can be formed by water colours. He so mixed his greys, that by using them judiciously they seemed to represent the basis of every species of subject and effect, as viewed in the middle grounds under the influence of Girtin's atmosphere, when he pictured the autumnal season in our humid climate, which constantly exhibits to the picturesque eye the charms of rich effects in a greater variety than any country in Europe.'
Another writer says, 'The variety of light and shadow which spread over his picturesque buildings, the manner in which he separated the masses, and the brilliancy of certain parts which received a partial burst of sunshine, diffused a splendour of effect to these scenes which no artist before had conceived. His fine taste for colour was most evidently conspicuous in his topographical scenes. Every tint of brick, stone, plaster, timber, and tile was combined, both in broad light, medium tint, and shadow, with such admirable feeling towards general harmony, that no one of the least taste could behold his productions without admiration and delight. His skies in general were extremely luminous.'
'It might be supposed,' says another writer, 'by the bold and broad execution which characterises the works of Girtin, that they were mostly off-hand productions; the contrary, however, is the fact. It is true that he could sketch, and did occasionally dash in his effects with rapidity; but his finely coloured compositions, though apparently, like the pictures by Wilson, the result of little labour, were wrought with much careful study and proportional manual exertion. In certain of his productions I have frequently watched his progress, which, like Wilson's, was careful, notwithstanding his bold execution even to fastidiousness. It is true he did not hesitate, nor undo what he once laid down, for he worked upon principle; but he reiterated his tints to produce splendour and richness, and repeated his depths to secure transparency and tone, with a perseverance that would surprise those who were not intimately acquainted with the difficult process of Water-colour painting, to produce works that merit the designation of pictures.’
Girtin at this time (1794) was fully occupied. Purchasers and pupils came in quick succession. 'Only teach us how to draw with this daring and dashing effect and we shall be content.' He was constant to his old associate and friend Turner, and Turner reciprocated this friendship, which endured to the last. Turner made few friends and was thus the antithesis to Girtin; but for many years, when he spoke of Girtin as 'poor Tom,' it was always with great feeling.
Girtin made many journeys with Turner, visiting and making careful drawings of the different cathedrals and other subjects, which he often repeated, diversifying them by different tones of colour or by different effects in the skies.
He first began to exhibit his drawings in 1794 when 20 years of age. The View of the Interior of Winchester Cathedral in the present collection is dated 1796, and was exhibited in 1797. In the same year he exhibited the Ouse Bridge, York, and other views of that city, as well as Jedburgh Abbey. In 1798: The Coast of Dorset, Berry- Pomeroy Castle, Rivaulx Abbey, Interiors of Exeter (In the present exhibition, lent by Miss Miller) and Chester Cathedrals, Cottage from Nature, St. Nicholas Church, Newcastle, and others. In 1799 : A Mill in Essex, the Stanstead Mill, Two Views of Beddgellert, Warkworth Hermitage, Tatershall Castle, &c. In 1800 : Bristol Hotwells, York, and Jedburgh. In this year J. W. M. Turner was elected an Associate of the Royal Academy of Arts. This stimulated Girtin to aspire to the same honours, and because then, as now, no artist, be he ever so great a genius, was eligible from his merits as a water-colour painter, he painted a picture of Bolton Abbey in oils, which was exhibited at Somerset House in 1801. He also about this time made a Panorama of London, which is believed to be now in Russia (Miss Miller has the outline of this work).
But the time was fast approaching when the brush so ably wielded, so marvellously imitating the beauties of nature and art, was to fall from the hand of the master. Girtin, never strong, showed symptoms of pulmonary consumption; he was advised to change air and scene, and went to Paris in the spring of 1802, where he made the beautiful series of drawings of that city, now in the possession of the Duke of Bedford. He returned home in the autumn none the better, and as the wintry blasts set in, the lamp of life flickered and went out; he died in November 1802 at the early age of twenty-nine (An interesting account of Girtin will be found in the Century of Painters, by Richard and Samuel Redgrave.).
DRAWINGS BY THOMAS GIRTIN.
No. 1.— NORHAM CASTLE. (TG1406)
22 ¼ inches w., by 16 ⅛ inches h.
Lent by C. J. Pooley, Esq.
No. 2.— OLD BRIDGE AND HOUSES, WITH A WATERFALL ON THE RIGHT. (TG1693)
12 ¾ inches w., by 14 ½ inches h.
Lent by C. S. Bale, Esq.
No. 3.— WESTON ON THE RIVER WHARFE, YORKSHIRE. (TG1715)
17 ½ inches w., by 10 ½ inches h.
Signed 'Girtin'
Lent by G. W. H. Girtin, Esq.
No. 4— SNOWDON RANGE. (TG1322)
36 inches w., by 23 ½ inches h.
Signed 'Girtin.'
Lent by C. S. Bale, Esq.
No. 5.— OUSE BRIDGE, YORK. (TG1044)
19 inches w., by 8 ¼ inches h.
Lent by John Henderson, Esq.
No. 6.— PINKNEY'S FARM, WIMBISH, ESSEX. (TG1452)
18 ½ inches w., by 12 ½ inches h.
Signed 'Girtin.'
Lent by G. W. H. Girtin, Esq.
No. 7.— LINCOLN CATHEDRAL. (TG1013)
23 inches w., by 17 ½ inches h.
Lent by C. J. Pooley, Esq.
No. 8.— BOLTON ABBEY. (TG1676)
12 ¾ inches w., by 14 ¼ inches h.
Lent by Edward Cohen, Esq.
No. 9.— LYME REGIS. (UNFINISHED.) (TG1250)
17 inches w., by 8 ¾ inches h.
Lent by G. W. H. Girtin, Esq.
No. 10.— DISTANT VIEW OF HAREWOOD. (TG1335)
20 ¾ inches w., by 9 ¼ inches h.
Lent by Edward Cohen, Esq.
No. 11.— BAMBOROUGH CASTLE, NORTHUMBERLAND. (TG0116)
8 ¾ inches w., by 6 ⅞ inches h.
Lent by Miss Miller.
No. 12.— COLCHESTER CASTLE. (TG0127)
8 ¾ inches w., by 6 ⅞ inches h.
Lent by Miss Miller.
No. 13— RUINS AT ROME. (TG0881)
18 ¾ inches w., by 12 inches h.
One of a set of twelve Landscapes engraved by Gianipicolli.
Lent by G. W. H. Girtin, Esq.
No. 14.— LANERCOST PRIORY. (TG0867)
After Hearne.
7 ⅞ inches w., by 12 inches h.
A drawing made by T. Girtin for the late Mr. Henderson.
Lent by John Henderson, Esq.
No. 15.— EXETER. (TG1259)
21 ½ inches w., by 15 inches h.
Lent by J. Worthington, Esq.
No. 16.— BOLTON ABBEY. (TG1678)
18 inches w., by 12 ½ inches h.
Lent by C. J. Pooley, Esq.
No. 17.— THE ROCKING STONE, CORNWALL. (TG1104)
17 ½ inches w., by 21 ¾ inches h.
Lent by Edward Cohen, Esq.
No. 18.— PONT Y PAIR, NORTH WALES. (TG1332)
20 ¾ inches w., by 15 inches h.
Lent by G. W. H. Girtin, Esq.
No. 19.— COTTAGES NEAR HEREFORD. (Untraced)
18 ½ inches w., by 12 inches h.
Lent by W. Smith, Esq.
No. 20.— MELROSE ABBEY. (TG0868)
After Hearne.
7 ¾ inches w., by 10 ⅛ inches h.
Drawing made for the late Mr. Henderson.
Lent by John Henderson, Esq.
No. 21.— RICHMOND, YORKSHIRE. (TG1067)
19 ¼ inches w., by 14 ½ inches h.
Lent by C. J. Pooley, Esq.
No. 22.— GUISBOROUGH, YORKSHIRE. (TG1699)
18 ¼ inches w., by 11 ¾ inches h.
Lent by C. J. Pooley, Esq.
No. 23.— SANDPIT AND WOOD. (TG1421)
16 ¼ inches w., by 10 ¾ inches h.
Lent by C. S. Bale, Esq.
No. 24.— DUNROBIN CASTLE. (TG0193)
13 ¾ inches w., by 9 ¾ inches h.
Signed ‘Girtin.'
Lent by Prescott Hewett, Esq.
No. 25.— KIRKSTALL ABBEY. (see TG1636 figure 1)
15 ¼ inches w., by 10 ¾ inches h.
Lent by C. E. Lees, Esq
No. 26.— JEDBURGH ABBEY. (TG1230)
12 inches w., by 14 ¼ inches h.
Lent by C. J. Pooley, Esq.
No. 27.— THE PORCH OF PETERBOROUGH CATHEDRAL. (TG1020)
13 ¾ inches w., by 17 ½ inches h.
Signed ’T. Girtin.'
Lent by J. E. Taylor, Esq.
No. 28.— OLD CHURCH WITH TREES. (TG1447)
16 inches w., by 9 inches h.
Lent by G. W. H. Girtin, Esq.
No. 29.— ROCKY LANDSCAPE AND WATERFALL. (TG1330)
17 ⅞ inches w., by 21 ¼ inches h.
Lent by C. S. Bale, Esq.
No. 30.— DURHAM. (TG1074)
20 ¾ inches w., by 20 ½ inches h.
Signed 'Girtin, 1799.'
Lent by J. E. Taylor, Esq.
No. 31.— TURNER'S FARM, WIMBISH, ESSEX. (TG1414)
16 ½ inches w., by 12 inches h.
Signed 'Girtin.'
Lent by G. W. H. Girtin, Esq.
No. 32.— LITCHFIELD CATHEDRAL. (TG1003)
14 ¾ inches w., by 18 ⅜ inches h.
Lent by J. E. Taylor, Esq.
No. 33.— DESKFORD CASTLE. (TG0109)
8 ¾ inches w., by 6 ½ inches h.
Signed 'Girtin.'
Lent by Miss Miller.
No. 34.— DENBIGH CASTLE. (TG0133)
8 ¾ inches w., by 6 ½ inches h.
Signed 'Girtin.'
Lent by Miss Miller.
No. 35.— BALA LAKE, NORTH WALES. (TG1334)
18 inches w., by 11 ½ inches h.
This drawing formerly belonged to C. R. Leslie, Esq., R.A., and is engraved in his
Handbook for Young Painters.
Lent by Bradford Leslie, Esq.
No. 36.— TEMPLE OF CLYTUMNUS. (TG0887)
12 inches w., by 8 ½ inches h.
Lent by G. W. H. Girtin, Esq.
No. 37.— THE STEPPING STONES, BOLTON ABBEY, YORKSHIRE. (TG1684)
20 ½ inches w., by 13 inches h.
Lent by G. W. H. Girtin, Esq.
No. 38.— DURHAM. (TG1075)
19 ½ inches w., by 14 ½ inches h.
Lent by Henry Vaughan, Esq.
No. 39.— PARIS, WITH VIEW OF NOTRE DAME. (Untraced)
17 ½ inches w., by 7 ⅛ inches h.
Lent by John Henderson, Esq.
No. 40.— LINCOLN. (TG1010)
10 ¾ inches w., by 8 ⅞ inches h.
Lent by Miss Miller.
No. 41.— LINCOLN CATHEDRAL. (TG1006)
8 ¾ inches w., by 6 ½ inches h.
Lent by Miss Miller.
No. 42.— LITCHFIELD CATHEDRAL. (TG1002)
10 ½ inches w., by 14 ½ inches h.
Signed 'T. Girtin' 1794.
Lent by Miss Miller.
No. 43.— TREES AND OLD MILL. (TG1571)
37 ½ inches w., by 19 ½ inches h.
Lent by Edward Cohen, Esq.
No. 44.— INTERIOR OF EXETER CATHEDRAL. (TG1256)
24 inches w., by 17 inches h.
Signed 'Girtin.'
Lent by Miss Miller.
No. 45.— HEREFORD CATHEDRAL FROM THE BANKS OF THE WYE. (TG1364)
19 ½ inches w., by 15 inches h.
Lent by C. S. Bale, Esq.
No. 46.— TWO VIEWS OF DUFF HOUSE, BANFF, N.B. (TG0184 and TG0108)
No. I. — 6 ¾ inches w., by 4 ¾ inches h.
No. 2. — 8 ¾ inches w., by 6 ⅞ inches h.
Signed 'Girtin.'
Lent by Miss Miller.
No. 47.— CROYLAND ABBEY. (TG0286)
12 inches w., by 13 inches h.
Lent by Miss Miller.
No. 48.— OLD MILL, NORTH WALES. (Untraced)
20 ½ inches w., by 12 ¾ inches h.
Lent by Sir William Drake.
No. 49.— GUISBOROUGH PRIORY, YORKSHIRE. (TG1700)
20 ⅜ inches w., by 12 inches h.
Lent by G. W. H. Girtin, Esq.
No. 50.— CAERNARVON CASTLE. (TG1309)
17 ¼ inches w., by 11 ½ inches h.
From the Redleaf Collection.
Lent by C. S. Bale, Esq.
No. 51.— CAREW CASTLE, PEMBROKESHIRE. (TG0123)
8 ¾ inches w., by 6 ¾ inches h.
Signed 'Girtin.'
Lent by Miss Miller.
No. 52.— CRAIG MILLAR CASTLE, NEAR EDINBURGH. (TG0089)
8 ¾ inches w., by 6 ¾ inches h.
Lent by Miss Miller.
No. 53.— TYNEMOUTH PRIORY. (TG0083)
8 ¾ inches w., by 6 ½ inches h.
Lent by Miss Miller.
No. 54.— EXETER CATHEDRAL. (TG0092)
8 ¾ inches w., by 6 ½ inches h.
Lent bv Miss Miller.
No. 55.— CRYPT OF KIRKSTALL ABBEY (TG1634)
9 ¼ inches w., by 12 ¼ inches h.
Lent by G. W. H. Girlin, Esq.
No. 56.— EILDON HILLS, MELROSE. (TG1718)
25 ¼ inches w., by 19 ¼ inches h.
Signed 'Girtin, 1800.'
Lent by G. W. H. Girtin, Esq.
No. 57.— KELSO. (TG1713)
20 ¾ inches w., by 9 ½ inches h.
Signed 'Girtin.'
Lent by Edward Cohen, Esq.
No. 58.— A CHURCH SPIRE AND SALTWOOD CASTLE. (Untraced)
In pencil.
Lent by Miss Miller.
No. 59.— BOLTON CASTLE. (TG0142)
8 ⅞ inches w., by 6 ¾ inches h.
THE SAME IN OUTLINE. (TG0142a)
Lent by Miss Miller.
No. 60.— VIEW AT HIGHGATE. (see TG1743 figure 1)
10 ¾ inches w., by 5 ½ inches h.
Lent by Edward Cohen, Esq.
No. 61.— COTTAGES NEAR NEWCASTLE. (TG1084)
8 ¼ inches w., by 4 ¾ inches h.
Lent by G. W. H. Girtin, Esq.
No. 62.— RUINS OF AN ABBEY. (Untraced)
10 inches w., by 6 ⅜ inches h.
Lent by G. W. H. Girtin, Esq.
No. 63.— LANDSCAPE, WITH MAN FISHING. (Untraced)
10 inches w., by 8 ¼ inches h.
Lent by G. W. H. Girtin, Esq.
No. 64.— VIEW OF A CHURCH. (TG0857)
16 inches w., by 10 ½ inches h.
Lent by G. W. H. Girtin, Esq.
No. 65.— KNARESBOROUGH CASTLE. (TG0915)
11 ½ inches w., by 12 ⅝ inches h.
Lent by John Henderson, Esq.
No. 66.— OVERSHOT WATER MILL. (TG1427)
11 ½ inches w., by 8 ½ inches h.
Lent by C. S. Bale, Esq.
No. 66*.— EFFECT OF STORM. (TG0150)
9 inches w., by 6 ¾ inches h.
Lent by Miss Miller.
No. 67.— THE MAYOR'S WALK, OUSE BRIDGE YORK. (TG1651)
21 inches w., by 10 ½ inches h.
Signed ‘Girtin.’ 1801.
Lent by G. W. H. Girtin, Esq.
No. 68.— VILLAGE OF KIRKSTALL, YORKSHIRE. (TG1639)
19 ¼ inches w., by 12 ½ inches h.
Dated 1801.
Lent by G. W. H. Girtin, Esq.
No. 69.— ST. VINCENT'S ROCK, CLIFTON. (TG1735)
20 ¾ inches w., by 12 ¾ inches h.
Lent by G. W. H. Girtin, Esq.
No. 70.— BERRY-POMEROY CASTLE, DEVON. (TG1271)
14 ½ inches w., by 10 inches h.
Exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1798.
Lent by G. W. H. Girtin, Esq.
No. 71.— CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL, INTERIOR. (TG1911)
12 ¼ inches w., by 16 ⅛ inches h.
Lent by John Henderson, Esq.
No. 72.— DURHAM. (TG1078)
14 ½ inches w., by 10 ¼ inches h.
Lent by C. S. Bale, Esq.
No. 73.— VIEW NEAR BROMLEY, KENT. (TG1419)
12 ½ inches w., by 8 inches h.
Signed 'Girtin.'
Lent by G. W. H. Girtin, Esq.
No. 74.— VIEW OF SOUTHAMPTON. (see TG1236 figure 1)
11 ¾ inches w., by 7 ½ inches h.
SCARBOROUGH. (Untraced)
12 ½ inches w., by 8 ¼ inches h.
Lent by G. W. H. Girtin, Esq.
No. 75.— CRUMMOCK WATER, CUMBERLAND. (TG1629)
13 inches w., by 8 inches h.
Signed 'Girtin, 1800.'
Lent by G. W. H. Girtin, Esq.
No. 76.— WARKWORTH HERMITAGE. (TG1097)
23 ¾ inches w., by 17 inches h.
Signed 'Girtin.'
Lent by G. W. H. Girtin, Esq.
No. 77.— CHEPSTOW CASTLE. (TG0156)
23 ¾ inches w., by 14 ½ inches h.
Lent by G. W. H. Girtin, Esq.
No. 78.— ENVIRONS OF PARIS. (TG1918)
11 ¾ inches w., by 5 ¾ inches h.
Signed 'Girtin, 1802.'
Lent by G. W. H. Girtin, Esq.
No. 79.— ENVIRONS OF PARIS. (TG1917)
11 ¾ inches w., by 5 ¾ inches h.
Signed 'Girtin, 1802.'
Lent by G. W. H. Girtin, Esq.
No. 80.— LANE IN HAMPSTEAD. (TG1388)
11 inches w., by 12 ¼ inches h.
Lent by G. W. H. Girtin, Esq.
No. 81. — LANGWERN CHURCH, GLAMORGANSHIRE. (TG1023)
9 ¼ inches w., by 11 ½ inches h.
Signed 'T. Girtin.’
Lent by G. W. H. Girtin, Esq.
No. 82.— RIPON MINSTER. (TG1660)
18 ½ inches w., by 11 ¾ inches h.
Signed ‘Girtin, 1801.'
Lent by G. W. H. Girtin, Esq.
No. 83.— NIGHTINGALE VALLEY, NEAR BRISTOL. (TG1284)
21 ½ inches w., by 17 ½ inches h.
Lent by Edward Cohen, Esq.
No. 84.— PARIS, FROM ABOVE NOTRE DAME. (Untraced)
18 ½ inches w., by 7 ⅛ inches h.
Lent by G. H. Haes, Esq.
No. 85.— GRAVEL PIT, BROMLEY, KENT. (TG1424)
16 inches w., by 10 ½ inches h.
Lent by G. W. H. Girtin, Esq.
No. 86.— LANDSCAPE WITH OLD WOODEN BRIDGE. (TG1702)
Signed 'Girtin' 1802.
20 ¾ inches w., by 12 ½ inches h.
Lent by Edward Cohen, Esq.
No. 87.— YORK MINSTER. (TG1049)
19 ½ inches w., by 13 ¾ inches h.
Lent by Edward Cohen, Esq.
No. 88.— LANDSCAPE IN SEPIA. (TG1673)
20 ¼ inches w., by 12 inches h.
Lent by Edward Cohen, Esq.
No. 89.— THE MAYOR'S WALK, OUSE BRIDGE, YORK. (TG1046)
21 ¾ inches w., 12 ¼ inches h.
Signed 'Girtin'
Lent by G. W. H. Girtin, Esq.
No. 90.— FARM IN ESSEX. (TG1413)
16 ½ inches w., by 12 inches h.
Signed 'Girtin.'
Lent by G. W. H. Girtin, Esq.
No. 91.— KIRKSTALL ABBEY. (TG1637)
20 ½ inches w., by 12 ½ inches h.
Lent by G. W. H Girtin, Esq.
No. 92.— CONWAY CASTLE. NORTH WALES. (TG1739)
21 inches w., by 10 ¼ inches h.
Signed 'Girtin 1800.'
Lent by G. W. H. Girtin, Esq.
No. 93.— BEDDGELLART, NORTH WALES. (Untraced)
20 ⅜ inches w., by 12 inches h.
Lent by Edward Cohen, Esq.
No. 94.— HAREWOOD CASTLE. (TG1669)
37 ½ inches w., by 25 inches h.
Lent by Edward Cohen, Esq.
No. 95.— PONT Y PAIR, BETTWS Y COED, NORTH WALES. (TG1333)
21 inches w., by 14 ¼ inches h.
Signed ‘Girtin.'
Lent by G. W. H. Girtin, Esq.
No. 96.— MOUTH OF THE EXE. (Untraced)
(Rainbow effect.)
20 ⅜ inches w., by 9 inches h.
Lent by Edward Cohen, Esq.
No. 97.— RIPON CATHEDRAL. (TG1659)
17 inches w., by 10 ½ inches h.
Signed ‘Girtin, 1800.'
Lent by Lionel Constable, Esq.
No. 98.— INTERIOR OF WINCHESTER CATHEDRAL. (TG1040)
16 ¼ inches w., by 21 ½ inches h.
Signed 'Girtin, 1795.'
Lent by Edward Cohen, Esq.
No. 99.— TREES AND POND NEAR BROMLEY, KENT. (TG1420)
12 ¼ inches w., by 8 ⅛ inches h.
Drawn and coloured on the spot.
Signed 'Girtin.'
Lent by G. W. H. Girtin, Esq.
No. 100.— MILL AT STANSTEAD, ESSEX. (TG1416)
23 ½ inches w., by 17 inches h.
Lent by G. W. H. Girtin, Esq.
No. 101.— HAREWOOD BRIDGE. (TG1551)
25 inches w., by 15 inches h.
Lent by Edward Cohen, Esq.
No. 102.— THE WHITE HOUSE, CHELSEA REACH. (TG1740)
19 ¾ inches w., by 11 ¼ inches h.
Signed, on the bank below the mill, 'Girtin. 1800.'
It is said that Turner declared this drawing to be finer than any painted by himself.
Lent by Horatio L. Micholls, Esq.
No. 103.— VIEW NEAR BROMLEY. (TG1418)
12 ½ inches w., by 8 inches h.
Signed ‘Girtin.'
Lent by Edward Cohen, Esq.
No. 104.— INTERIOR OF ST. ALBANS ABBEY. (TG1039)
18 ½ inches w., by 22 ¼ inches h.
Lent by Edward Cohen, Esq.
No. 105.— VILLAGE AND CHURCH. (Untraced)
11 inches w., by 8 ½ inches h.
Lent by G. W. H. Girtin, Esq.
No. 106.— HAREWOOD HOUSE. (TG1547)
37 ½ inches w., by 25 inches h.
Lent by Edward Cohen, Esq.
No. 107.— RIVER WITH VILLAGE AND COWS.(TG1550)
20 ½ inches w., by 11 ¾ inches h.
Signed 'Girtin, 1800.'
Lent by Edward Cohen, Esq.
No. 108.— THE RIVER EXE, NEAR EXMOUTH. (TG1730)
(Rainbow effect.)
Engraved in the Gems of Art.
20 ½ inches w., by 12 inches h.
Signed 'Girtin, 1800.'
Lent by C S. Bale, Esq.
No. 109.— MORPETH BRIDGE. (TG1709)
From the Redleaf Collection. Said to be the last drawing made by the Artist.
20 ¾ inches w., by 12 ⅜ inches h.
Lent by C. S. Bale, Esq.
No. 110.— RUINS OF THE SAVOY HOSPITAL. (TG0348)
11 ½ inches w., by 8 ¾ inches h.
Lent by Miss Miller.
No. 111.—OLD OUSE BRIDGE, YORK. (TG1042)
19 ½ inches w., by 13 ¼ inches h.
Signed 'Girtin.'
Lent by Edward Cohen, Esq.
No. 112.— LANDSCAPE WITH CASTLE. (Untraced)
12 ¼ inches w., by 8 inches h.
Lent by G. W. H. Girtin, Esq.
No. 113.— KIRKSTALL ABBEY— MORNING. (TG1636)
20 ½ inches w., by 12 ¼ inches h.
Signed 'T. Girtin.'
Lent by G. W. H. Girtin, Esq.
No. 114.— ELY CATHEDRAL. (TG0202)
19 ¾ inches w., by 15 inches h.
Lent by Miss Miller.
No. 115.— VALLE CRUCIS, NORTH WALES. (TG1345)
12 ½ inches w., by 10 inches h.
Lent by G. W. H. Girtin, Esq.
No. 116.— RIVAULX ABBEY, YORKSHIRE. (TG1057)
18 ½ inches w., by 12 ¾ inches h.
Lent by G. W. H. Girtin, Esq.
No. 117.— RUINS OF OAKHAMPTON CHURCH. (TG1278)
13 ½ inches w., by 9 ½ inches h.
Lent by Edward Cohen, Esq.
No. 118.— MOUTH OF THE EXE, DEVON. (TG1407)
14 ½ inches w., by 10 ½ inches h.
Lent by G. W. H. Girtin, Esq.
No. 119.— OUSE BRIDGE, YORK. (TG1649)
20 ½ inches w., by 13 inches h.
Signed 'Girtin' 1800.
Lent by G. W. H. Girtin, Esq.
No. 120.— RUINS OF AN OLD CASTLE. (Untraced)
13 ½ inches w., by 9 ¾ inches h.
Lent by G. W. H. Girtin, Esq.
No. 121.— VIEW OF A BRIDGE, &c. (Untraced)
20 ¾ inches w., by 14 inches h.
Lent by Captain De Kantzow.
No. 122.— DRAWING OF A ROMAN TEMPLE. (TG0896)
Drawn with a reed pen.
21 ½ inches w., by 16 ⅜ inches h.
Lent by John Henderson, Esq.
No. 123.— THE GRAND CANAL, VENICE. (TG0898)
After Canaletto.
19 ¼ inches w., by 8 inches h.
Lent by John Henderson, Esq.
No. 124.— AN OLD BRIDGE, ITALY. (TG0892)
After Piranesi.
19 ⅞ inches w., by 6 inches h.
Lent by John Henderson, Esq.
No. 125.— THE GRAND CANAL, VENICE. (TG0899)
After Canaletto.
16 ¾ inches w., by 9 ¾ inches h.
Lent by John Henderson, Esq.
No. 126.— THE RIALTO, VENICE. (TG0897)
After Canaletto.
Drawn with a reed pen.
20 ½ inches w., by 14 ¾ inches h.
Lent by John Henderson, Esq.
No. 127.— 'DOGS HESITATING ABOUT THE PLUCK.' (TG0874)
After G. Moreland.
12 ½ inches w., by 9 ½ inches h.
Lent by John Henderson, Esq.
No. 128.— CORNHILL AND THE BANK IN 1795. (TG1466)
18 ⅞ inches w., by 21 ⅞ inches h.
Lent by John Henderson, Esq.
No. 129.— THE MANSION HOUSE. (TG0870)
After the engraving by Malton.
13 ½ inches w., by 14 ¼ inches h.
Lent by John Henderson, Esq.
No. 130.— THE OLD ROYAL EXCHANGE. (TG0871)
After Malton.
19 ¼ inches w., by 13 ¼ inches h.
Lent by John Henderson, Esq.
No. 131.— ST. GEORGE'S, HANOVER SQUARE. (TG0872)
After the engraving by Malton. The figures are different in the engraving.
13 ½ inches w., by 14 ¼ inches h.
Lent by John Henderson, Esq.
No. 132.— A PEN AND INK DRAWING OF DARTFORD, KENT. (TG0843)
After a pencil sketch by the late Mr. Henderson.
21 ⅞ inches w., by 16 ¾ inches h.
Lent by John Henderson, Esq.
No. 133.— VIEW OF ST. PAUL'S. (TG1396)
14 ¼ inches, w., by 19 ¼ inches h.
Lent by W. Dorrell, Esq.
No. 134.— KNARESBOROUGH. (TG1671)
20 ¼ inches w., by 12 ¼ inches h.
Lent by Richard Johnson, Esq.
No. 135.— VIEW IN ROME. (TG0891)
7 ⅝ inches w., by 10 ¾ inches h.
Lent by John Henderson, Esq.
No. 136.— GATE OF ST. EDMUNDS BURY ABBEY. (TG0866)
After Hearne.
10 inches w., by 7 ¼ inches h.
Lent by John Henderson, Esq.
22 May 1875
Frederick Wedmore, ‘The Drawings of Thomas Girtin’, The Examiner, no.3512, 22 May 1875, pp.586–87
THE DRAWINGS OF THOMAS GIRTIN
Among the landscape painters (painting in water-colour) who flourished in England before those middle years of Turner’s life, which were the greatest for the art of water-colour, there were two men who will be remembered when the rest are chiefly forgotten; and one of these is Cozens, and the other Girtin. And of the work of these two men it is Girtin’s which makes to most of us the surest appeal. It has more variety than Cozens’ work, and more of the truth that we understand. All who know anything of our earlier masters of landscape know Cozens to be celebrated for drawings made in Italy: drawings which with range of colour as limited as their range of subject, represent for us Italian foliage, and the stretch of the Campagna, and the castle on the hill-top over the ravine, and a wide sky, calm and clear. But few of us can appreciate the truth with which these are represented. The drawings are said, by those who know Italy best, to be more faithful than most of us can possibly imagine. Their delicate differences are lost upon those who have not made Italy a home.
To Girtin’s work there is of course no such objection. In subject and sentiment it is wholly English, though English of a by-past time. It is not isolated, like the work of Cozens. The men who followed Girtin had much in common with him, Varley, when he was simplest, could remind you of him. Turner himself learnt much from him during his youth, while Girtin still lived; and cherished, when Girtin was dead, a great admiration for him. They tell us that Constable said of Cozens that he was “the greatest genius that ever touched landscape,” and there is a story which seems to indicate, on the part of Turner, well nigh as high an appreciation of Girtin. We need not take it quite au pied de la lettre. The tale runs this-wise. A dealer went one day to Turner, and after looking round at all his drawings in the room, audaciously remarked, “I have a drawing out there, in my hackney coach, finer than any of yours.” Turner bit his lip, looked first angry, then meditative. At length he broke silence: ''Then I tell you what it is. You have got Tom Girtin’s ‘White House at Chelsea!’’’ That drawing is now exhibited at the Burlington Fine Arts Club, along with many another most admirable example of Girtin’s work.
We said that the men who followed Girtin had much in common with him. His work marks a stage in the history of our school, and by it many others have profited. He was Turner’s senior by perhaps a year or two, having been born in London either in 1773 or 1775 — and he was among the first to release water-colour art from the fetters of mere antiquarian reproduction and topographical accuracy. He could of course be accurate himself — nobody more so. But he was among the first whom mere accuracy never contented. We see him, while still in his boyhood, breaking through the practice which his teacher, Dayes, had inculcated. He cared more to make pictures than to make plans and views. And this is quite as evident from an inspection of his earlier drawings as of his later. Few of the signed works in the Burlington Club, bearing the dates of 1801 and 1802 — the last two years of his brief life — show any greater freedom than that which he had won for himself some half dozen years earlier, when he was almost a boy. And yet, we know that whatever was the time at which he passed, he did pass from that first topographical business to the higher business of his art. The experience of marvellous progress was crowded into his short career. It is hardly too much to say that he found Water-colour Art in chains, and that, ten years later, he left it free.
The freedom was gained in part by an altered system — the practice of first laying in his pictures with local colour, instead of working the shadows in neutral tints — and in part by an aim more varied and ambitious than any that had possessed his forerunners in the art. His drawing, at once accurate and audacious, his masterly composition, his massing and arrangement of light and shade — in which probably only one of his successors, John Sell Cotman, has excelled him — his fearless use of all the colours then at his disposal, not only enabled him to widen the range of water-colour art, but to justify such widening by his success. The Messrs. Redgrave say of his work that it has not “the finesse of broken tints that Turner’s has, nor the delicate washings of Cozens.” But these are perhaps the only qualities, or characteristics, of great contemporary work that are lacking to his own.
The drawings at the Burlington Club reveal to the most cursory glance, that Girtin’s advance upon his contemporaries and predecessors in the region of colour was accompanied by no shortcomings in the field of design. He was a consummate draughtsman; and consummate in this sense, that he had not only absolute mastery over the reproduction of lines found in a landscape, in a cathedral tower, in a town grouped on a hill side, but absolute mastery of expression in pure line. His lines interpreted — suggested — as well as reproduced. To see this, we may notice especially the views in Paris, where along the banks of the river the houses stretch in seemingly endless rows, indicated by him with a master’s economy of means. Not many strokes, and these by no means in the way of accurate reproduction, and he gives you the sense of crowd pressure — the massing of a great city. And he has placed in the sky a range of cumulus cloud, heaped in the middle, dwindling to each side, so that you shall feel that the view extends very far beyond those central buildings towards which his composition has drawn your eye, that the city is great and the plain wide and spacious. That is a device repeated often in his panoramic work. For pure design — independent of colour— a landscape independent of the charm of transient effect, we may notice “Hereford,” the drawing belonging to Mr. C. S. Bale, the fortunate possessor of at least two other drawings very variously characteristic. One of them is a small low-toned picture of a city which has been fruitful of material for many great painters in watercolour: the city of Durham which, to name one example out of many, prompted, we suppose, the best work of George Fennell Robson. \Ve take this “Durham,” small though it be —much smaller than the other views of the same place here to be seen,— as a happy example of the artist’s feeling for the massed buildings of an ancient city, suggestive in shadow, solemn in outline, and sober in the light of late evening. “Morpeth,” the subject of the third drawing, lies very differently; in a position naturally less advantageous for every artist’s pencil; and so, here, Girtin has portrayed an effect transient — not permanent — and we think, in looking at “Morpeth,” less of the massing of the town, but more of the weather just now passing over it: the sudden sunlight that, strikes sharp on road and house-wall and belfry, after storm, and will be gone again in a moment, leaving storm again in its place. We have had painters who delighted to paint the permanent facts of landscape: others, of whom the chief was David Cox, who cared for all that was most fleeting. Girtin’s was a middle way. He never undervalued or suppressed the permanent facts, but he told them often with an accompaniment of such effects as linger — a slow quiet twilight (as witness the “Old Ouse Bridge”), a placid morning (another “Ouse Bridge”), a tranquil afternoon (“Dunrobin”).
And so it is that Girtin’s art — tranquil, grave, and sober as the hours he loved — accurate often, but never with pride of accuracy, powerful always, but never with vain display of power — has much to say to us to-day, and much to teach. Its interest is far from being that only which belongs to the record and sign of advance in a particular art — a stage reached by him and passed beyond by his successors — nor is it wholly due to his having depicted, with feeling and devotion akin to Meryon’s for old Paris, many a characteristic of our old-world towns with which no personal experience can make us familiar now. His work marks a stage, and that a great one, in the history and technical progress of water-colour Art, and it preserves for us precious things whose aspect can now live in art alone. But its abiding value lies in an excellence not relative but positive. Girtin’s mastery of composition, his strength and freedom of design, his sobriety and truth of colour and tone, as well as his possession of that quality which with convenient vagueness we describe as poetical feeling, must cause him, wherever his works are known, to be ranked with the greatest names in English landscape art.
5 June 1875
Anonymous, ‘The Girtin Drawings at the Burlington Club’, The Builder, vol.33, no.1687, 5 June 1875, p.499
THE GIRTIN DRAWINGS AT THE BURLINGTON CLUB
Those who are interested in the art of water-colour painting should by no means omit to visit the large and interesting collection of the works of our first great water-colour artist, at present exhibited at the Burlington Fine Arts Club, access to which is readily obtained through any member of the club. The collection is interesting not only as a representative exhibition of the works of a great and early-lost genius, and for the intrinsic power of most of the drawings comprising it, but also as affording an illustration of the aims and practice of this peculiarly English branch of art at the commencement of its career as a distinct art, and of the extent of the change which has come over it, and the gulf which separates the art of Girtin from that displayed on the walls of the Institute and the Society of Painters in Water-colour.
Viewed from the standpoint of the present day, Girtin’s style would be regarded as a conventional interpretation of Nature in a remarkably broad and powerful manner, with the object of conveying the feeling rather than the facts of a scene; and it is almost curious to reflect that one of Girtin’s distinguishing merits as the inaugurator of a new style in water-colour was considered to be the superior force and brilliancy of local colour in his works; whereas a modern “critic,” meeting with one of them in an exhibition, would be almost certain to characterise it as monotonous and “deficient in local colour.” But when we consider that, previously to Girtin, water-colour was little more than a system of washed-in effects in monochrome, it is easy to understand what a revelation his delicately-balanced tints must have appeared; and as we turn from one work to another, and realise the manner in which the artist looked at Nature, and the media which he used in representing her, we come to see that though he does not give us much of the positive facts of colour, he gives us its relative effects almost in perfection, and that we need only to learn his language to find colour, even of a warm and glowing tone, in these combinations of cool greys and warm browns so artfully composed and contrasted, yet with a result which seems rather to suggest rapid and vigorous dash of execution than the subtle artifice and patient study with which, as we know by the record of the artist’s contemporaries, these works were produced.
The immense change which we see between the broad and (in one sense) conventional style of Girtin, and such brilliant colour and realism of detail as we see in every exhibition now, is not, of course, aesthetically peculiar to water-colour painting, for the style of Girtin, and in his earlier days (to some extent) of Turner, was a part of the artistic feeling of the day in landscape, when that pleasure in mere intensity and glow of colour for its own sake, which has pervaded even to exaggeration the poetry as well as the painting of the present day, was not,—and the subsequent achievements of Turner and Hunt in evolving something like actual and positive light and radiation out of pigments, would perhaps have been regarded as scarcely more desirable than possible. But the change in the method and objects of water-colour is probably owing a good deal to the improvement in the materials used, both as to purity of colour and ease of manipulation. The effects of modern water-colour would have been to a great extent impossible in Girtin’s day, for want of the mechanical means of producing them. In one small drawing at the Burlington Club (“Dunrobin Castle,” No. 24) we see an evident intention to produce an effect of intense brightness and sunlight on the hill and castle; but the means for accomplishing it are limited, the effect is rather raw, and the water in the foreground has had to be sacrificed to it, as it is. What is observed in the quotation from Miller’s “Life of Girtin,” in the introductory remarks prefixed to the catalogue, shows how the modus operandi of the artist was directed to making the most of a comparatively limited palette :—
This passage is really curious in its way, as evincing the different methods of looking at nature with a view to artistic reproduction which may exist at different times. If it had ever occurred to the writer who mentions with such delightful naivety the fact of Girtin “frequently introducing trees” in his landscapes (as if this were a sort of compliment to the scene, entirely ad libitum) to take one of Girtin’s wooded scenes out of doors and compare it with the living foliage “in all the varieties of autumnal hues,” it is possible he might have reconsidered his words. Girtin’s wooded scenes are not his forte, and certainly no one will find anything like the richness of autumnal tints in them, though there is great power of massing the trees finely as vehicles for the light and shadow of the picture, and of defining their form and movement. But the sentence we have italicised does to a great extent give the key to the character of Girtin’s art. It was a translation of nature, on a fixed principle, into the key of his palette, preserving the relations of tone completely, but ignoring both the positive colour and much of the detail. One element in Girtin’s method is too characteristic to be overlooked, and we are surprised that no reference whatever is made to it in the catalogue; we mean his preference for toned paper to work upon; frequently brown and grey paper of apparently very coarse texture. Few of his drawings are so much covered as to leave nothing of the original ground visible, and in a majority of cases this is not white. This quality of paper, while it certainly increased the conventional character of his drawings, also assisted the peculiar combination of tone which he aimed at, and gave him effects which would have been attained only with much more labour on white paper. In one of the finest of the smaller works at the Art Club, “Hereford Castle from the Banks of the Wye” (No. 45), the sky and the calm river are literally nothing but brown paper, part of the river surface very slightly touched upon with a thin wash just indicating the surface, the effect of water otherwise being purely dependent on the reflections of objects. A more remarkable instance is the “Village of Kirkstall” (68), an effect on paper of a similar kind, but more laboured (if one can apply such a term to work which has so completely the opposite appearance) and evidently most carefully studied in its balance of tones. There is not a single part of this drawing, — the water, the houses, the distant rising field, — which, taken separately, can be said to represent the tones of nature; but the relation of the tones to each other is so true that, taken as a whole, the effect is perfectly real and atmospheric. The beautiful drawing, “Kirkstall Abbey” (91), is, if we mistake not, a specimen on grey paper, and the faint gleam of light over the hill, transparent and aerial as it seems, appears to be obtained by body colour added after the washes. Girtin seldom used this resource, however, and only in general for a single high light prominent in the composition. An instance of this is seen in the beautiful little drawing of “Richmond, Yorkshire” (21), a less striking work than some, but one of the finest in regard to delicacy of effect. The sky to the left is remarkably successful, and in general nothing is more remarkable in these drawings than the perfection with which Girtin gives the aerial softness and perspective to his clouds, which seem to round off and vanish into the distance in a manner which, considering how slight is the apparent labour bestowed, is a notable instance of the ars est celare artem.
Among the more remarkable works here may be noticed “The Rocking Stone, Cornwall” (17), — a grand and powerful drawing of the peak of a rocky hill, with a glimpse of the sea far below; the channelled weather-beaten mass of rock which leads up to the peak is given with remarkable solidity and perspective effect. Girtin is not less at home in the buildings of man than in those of nature; all his architectural subjects are fine. The large drawing of “Durham” (30), with the bridge crossing the picture, is magnificent in every respect, composition, tone, and texture, and perhaps there could hardly be a better example of the peculiar power of the artist, and of his method of dealing with the tones which he most affected, in combinations of water and building. The interior of “Exeter” (44) is as fine a specimen of architectural drawing, not excluding artistic effect, as could well be seen; clear and precise in every detail, without the slightest hardness. “Knaresborough Castle” (65) is a charming sketch of an old tower. “Chepstow Castle” (77) is not an architectural subject, but merely gives the name to a landscape remarkable for the effect of air and distance, and for the grand treatment of the rolling mass of clouds, with a strong light on one side; the treatment of the water in the foreground is odd, but the effect of open air freedom and space in this drawing is remarkable. Two large companion drawings, “Harewood Castle ” and “Harewood House” (94 and 106) perhaps show the fullest extent to which Girtin had carried his art as a landscape-painter; in power and force of composition the latter drawing strongly reminds one of Turner; but the beauty of the former (94) is more characteristic of its author; the tones and contrasts of light and shadow on the opposite hill in the middle distance are managed with the utmost finish, and show in perfection that quality of the artist which we have referred to, of giving perfectly the effect of the relations of tone and colour in nature, without literal imitation. A peculiarity observable in this collection is the practice which Girtin not unfrequently seems to have adopted of making two studies of the same subject similar in point of view, and in every respect except in the key of colour adopted, and some variations in the relative force of different portions. We see specimens of this in the two drawings of “Guisborough” (22 and 49), of which the latter is simply a reproduction of the former, with stronger and darker tones ; and in the two remarkable drawings of “Rainbow Effect at the Month of the Exe” (96 and 108), of which the former is the most effective ; but both are remarkably true to the character of the Exe country. A still more curious instance is in the two drawings of the interior, apparently, of St. Alban’s Abbey (98 and 104), in which the artist has experimented on two completely different methods of representing the same building in the same light; the light falls on the white reredos as the back of the picture, which in 98 is almost white, and all the other tones in proportion, cool and greyish ; while in 104 the screen, still with light on it in the same direction, is a reddish-brown, and the foreground pier, where the light falls on it, is treated with great power in a strong variety of the same tint, and the jointings of the stones deeply marked, so as to dominate over the other portions. These drawings are labelled “St. Alban’s Abbey” and “Winchester Cathedral” respectively; in fact, they are almost precisely the same scene, in every detail, even to the hatchments on the walls, and are no doubt meant for St. Alban’s Abbey, though the artist seems to have blended a reminiscence or two of Winchester with it, through some odd freak of fancy or forgetfulness. We can only mention two other notable drawings, “Morpeth Bridge” (109), interesting, not only as a remarkably fine one, but as being said to be the artist’s last work; and “The White House, Chelsea-reach” (102), which Turner is stated to have pronounced superior to any of his own drawings. It may be questioned, perhaps, whether Turner would have thanked any one else for saying so; but this little combination of colour and light over a calm river is something extraordinary, — a kind of inspiration, which might be paired off with Cotman’s wonderful little drawing, called “The Hay-barge” (in the last International Exhibition), as a specimen of a style of effect in which, once or twice, these three artists, of unequal fame, seemed to have touched each other so nearly as to fall almost into the same quality and feeling. We like to mention the three together, for they were kindred geniuses, and perhaps Cotman under happier circumstances, and Girtin with a longer life (he died it must be remembered, before he was thirty) might have claimed a place nearer to the mighty master of landscape than is generally assigned to them.
The age at which Girtin died renders it, in fact, difficult to estimate what he might ultimately have accomplished; and the fact of the want of dates to nearly all the drawings here precludes any definite judgment being formed of the tendency of the painter’s genius during the short period of his artistic life; we can hardly trace a development of style, the few drawings which are dated scarcely giving any indication of a “later or earlier manner.” But the collection is of the highest interest and beauty, and we owe thanks to the gentlemen who have lent the drawings, and to the club which has afforded the opportunity for their collection and exhibition and which is doing much for art and artists in this way.
1797 - 1798
Norham Castle
TG1406
1800
Cottages at Hawes, from Gayle Beck
TG1693
1800 - 1801
The River Tweed at Kelso, Looking Upstream
TG1715
1798 - 1799
A Mountain View, near Beddgelert
TG1322
1797 - 1798
The Ouse Bridge, York, from the North Shore
TG1044
(?) 1799
Pinckney’s Farm, Radwinter
TG1452
(?) 1810
Lincoln Cathedral, Viewed from Below
TG1013
1800 - 1801
Bolton Abbey: The East End of the Priory Church, from across the River Wharfe
TG1676
(?) 1797
The Coast of Dorset, with Lyme Regis Below
TG1250
1798 - 1799
The Conwy Valley
TG1335
1792 - 1793
Bamburgh Castle, from the East
TG0116
1792 - 1793
Colchester Castle
TG0127
1800 - 1801
Ancient Ruins, with an Obelisk
TG0881
(?) 1795
Lanercost Priory Church: An Interior View of the Ruins from the South Transept
TG0867
1798 - 1799
Exeter Cathedral, from the South
TG1259
1800
Bolton Abbey: The East End of the Priory Church, from across the River Wharfe
TG1678
1798 - 1799
Bamburgh Castle
TG1104
1798 - 1799
Pont y Pair, Betws-y-Coed
TG1332
(?) 1795
Melrose Abbey: The View to the South Transept
TG0868
1796 - 1797
Richmond Castle and Town, from the South East
TG1067
1800 - 1801
A Distant View of Guisborough Priory; The Tithe Barn, Abbotsbury
TG1699
1798 - 1799
A Sandpit, near Logs Hill, Widmore
TG1421
1799 - 1800
Dunrobin Castle
TG0193
1800 - 1801
Kirkstall Abbey, from Kirkstall Bridge, Morning
TG1636
1799 - 1800
The West Front of Jedburgh Abbey
TG1230
(?) 1796
The West Front of Peterborough Cathedral
TG1020
1798 - 1799
A Country Churchyard
TG1447
1798 - 1799
The Ogwen Falls
TG1330
1799
Durham Cathedral and Castle, from the River Wear
TG1074
(?) 1799
Turver’s Farm, Wimbish
TG1414
(?) 1796
The West Front of Lichfield Cathedral
TG1003
1792 - 1793
Deskford Castle
TG0109
1792 - 1793
The Gatehouse, Denbigh Castle
TG0133
1798 - 1799
Llyn Tegid (Bala Lake), Looking towards Cadair Idris
TG1334
1799 - 1800
The Temple of Clitumnus
TG0887
1800 - 1801
Stepping Stones on the River Wharfe, near Bolton Abbey
TG1684
1796 - 1797
Durham Cathedral and Castle, from the River Wear
TG1075
1794 - 1795
Lincoln, from the Brayford Pool
TG1010
1794 - 1795
Lincoln Cathedral: A Distant View from the North West
TG1006
1794
The West Front of Lichfield Cathedral
TG1002
1800 - 1801
The Sawmill, Cassiobury Park
TG1571
1797
The Interior of Exeter Cathedral, Looking from the Nave
TG1256
1798 - 1799
Hereford Cathedral, from across the River Wye
TG1364
1794
Duff House, from the River
TG0184
1792 - 1793
Duff House, from the South
TG0108
1793 - 1794
The West Front of Crowland Abbey
TG0286
1800 - 1801
A Distant View of Guisborough Priory
TG1700
1798 - 1799
The Eagle Tower, Caernarfon Castle
TG1309
1792 - 1793
Carew Castle
TG0123
1792 - 1793
Craigmillar Castle, near Edinburgh
TG0089
1792 - 1793
An Interior View of the Ruined East End of Tynemouth Priory Church
TG0083
1792 - 1793
The West Front of Exeter Cathedral, and St Mary Major
TG0092
1800 - 1801
The Crypt of Kirkstall Abbey
TG1634
1800
The Eildon Hills, from the River Tweed at Dryburgh
TG1718
1799 - 1800
The River Tweed at Kelso
TG1713
1792 - 1793
Bolton Castle
TG0142
1792 - 1793
Bolton Castle
TG0142a
1800 - 1801
Landscape with a Distant Ridge, Possibly Hampstead Heath
TG1743
(?) 1800
A Farmhouse, Said to Be near Newcastle-upon-Tyne
TG1084
1797 - 1798
Capel Church
TG0857
1797 - 1798
The Gatehouse, Newark Castle
TG0915
1798 - 1799
An Overshot Mill
TG1427
1792 - 1793
Dunnottar Castle in a Thunderstorm
TG0150
1801
York: The New Walk on the Banks of the River Ouse
TG1651
1801
Kirkstall Village
TG1639
(?) 1800
St Vincent’s Rocks and the Avon Gorge
TG1735
1798 - 1803
Berry Pomeroy Castle
TG1271
(?) 1802
An Interior View of the Nave of Laon Cathedral
TG1911
1799 - 1800
Durham Castle and Cathedral, from below the Weir; An Unidentified Hilly Landscape
TG1078
1799 - 1800
Barns and a Pond, Said to Be near Bromley
TG1419
1798 - 1799
Southampton Harbour
TG1236
1800
The River Nidd between Knaresborough and Wetherby
TG1629
1798 - 1799
Warkworth Hermitage
TG1097
1796 - 1797
Chepstow Castle, on the River Wye
TG0156
1802
A Village Scene
TG1918
1802
Buildings by a Road, with Passing Figures
TG1917
1798 - 1799
A Lane at Hampstead
TG1388
1795 - 1796
The Ancient Charnel House, Holy Trinity Church, Stratford-upon-Avon
TG1023
1800
Ripon Minster, with Skellgate Bridge
TG1660
1798 - 1799
St Vincent’s Rocks from Nightingale Valley, near Bristol
TG1284
1798 - 1799
A Gravel Pit at Bromley
TG1424
1802
Sandsend
TG1702
1797 - 1798
York Minster, from the Ouse, with St Mary’s Abbey
TG1049
1800 - 1801
Ilkley, from the River Wharfe
TG1673
1796 - 1797
York: The New Walk on the Banks of the Ouse
TG1046
(?) 1799
Pinckney’s Farm, Radwinter
TG1413
1802
Kirkstall Abbey, from the Canal, Evening
TG1637
1800
Conwy Castle, from the River Gyffin
TG1739
1801
A Distant View of Knaresborough, from the South East
TG1669
1798 - 1799
Pont y Pair, Betws-y-Coed
TG1333
1800
Ripon Minster, with Skellgate Bridge
TG1659
1796
The Interior of St Albans Abbey
TG1040
1798 - 1799
Trees and Pond, Said to Be near Bromley
TG1420
(?) 1799
A Mill in Essex
TG1416
1800 - 1801
Harewood Bridge
TG1551
1800
Chelsea Reach, Looking towards Battersea (The White House, Chelsea)
TG1740
1799 - 1800
Barns and a Pond, Said to Be near Bromley
TG1418
1791 - 1792
An Interior View of St Albans Abbey, from the Crossing
TG1039
(?) 1801
Harewood House, from the South West
TG1547
1800
Buildings on the River Nidd, near Knaresborough
TG1550
1800
A Rainbow over the River Exe
TG1730
(?) 1802
Morpeth Bridge
TG1709
1795 - 1796
An Interior View of the Ruins of the Savoy Hospital
TG0348
1798 - 1799
The Ouse Bridge, York
TG1042
1800 - 1801
Kirkstall Abbey, from Kirkstall Bridge, Morning
TG1636
(?) 1794
Ely Cathedral, from the South East
TG0202
1798 - 1799
Valle Crucis Abbey: The Chapter House, from the South West
TG1345
1800 - 1805
Rievaulx Abbey
TG1057
1799 - 1800
Okehampton Castle
TG1278
1797 - 1798
The Mouth of the River Exe
TG1407
1800
The Ouse Bridge, York
TG1649
1797 - 1798
The Temple of Augustus at Pula in Istria
TG0896
1797 - 1798
Venice: The Grand Canal, from Santa Maria della Carità, Looking to San Marco Basin
TG0898
1797 - 1798
The Bridge of Augustus at Rimini
TG0892
1797 - 1798
Venice: The Grand Canal, Looking East from the Palazzo Flangini to San Marcuola
TG0899
1796 - 1797
Venice: The Rialto Bridge
TG0897
1796 - 1797
Dogs Hesitating about the Pluck
TG0874
1795 - 1796
London: The Bank from the Mansion House, with St Christopher-le-Stocks
TG1466
1795 - 1796
London: The Mansion House
TG0870
1795 - 1796
London: The Royal Exchange
TG0871
(?) 1795
London: St George’s, Hanover Square
TG0872
1795 - 1796
Dartford High Street
TG0843
1795 - 1796
St Paul’s Cathedral, from St Martin’s-le-Grand
TG1396
(?) 1800
Knaresborough
TG1671
1797 - 1798
Rome: The Capitol from the South East
TG0891
(?) 1795
The Gatehouse, Bury St Edmunds Abbey
TG0866