This distant view of Rievaulx Abbey, seen from the west, was dated by Thomas Girtin (1874–1960) and David Loshak as well as Susan Morris to the artist’s first northern tour, in 1796 (Girtin and Loshak, 1954, p.155; Morris, 1986, p.41). However, David Hill has noted that Rievaulx ‘would have been out of the line of sites that we know him to have visited in 1796’ and, pointing to the fact that Girtin exhibited two views of the abbey at the 1798 exhibition, including TG1056, he suggested that Girtin might have sketched the abbey in 1797, possibly at the time of a visit to Harewood House (Hill, 1999, pp.22–23). There is no documentary evidence to substantiate the latter event, however, and, as with many of the sketches of Yorkshire, it is therefore simply not possible to conclusively assign this work to a precise date.

Whatever the date of its production, the work’s status as a sketch coloured on the spot, initially at least, seems secure. Its small scale and the evident speed of its creation – with rapidly applied washes of colour in a limited palette recording the play of light on the building but leaving other areas undetermined – point to a sketch produced in the field. The fact that the inscription to the left, reading ‘Bolton Abbey. York’, is palpably incorrect does not undermine the argument either. Whilst the error might be explained as the fault of a later owner who added the inscription in ignorance, I suspect that it is in the same hand as the signature to the right, which appears to be by Girtin, and that both were added when the artist was preparing the drawing for sale at a later date. If that is the case, then the fact that the signature has been cut at the bottom may constitute significant evidence about the market for Girtin’s sketches towards the end of his career. The manner in which part of the signature has been lost suggests that it originally strayed onto a mount that was subsequently removed, so that it is possible that the artist himself took an earlier coloured sketch and mounted, signed and inscribed it prior to a sale. A time gap of five or so years might therefore account for Girtin’s error in titling the work ‘Bolton Abbey’. We can perhaps get an idea of the sketch’s original appearance as a mounted image from what I take to be one of the few surviving examples of this way of presenting his drawings, Richmond Castle and Bridge, from the River Swale (TG1063), though this has yet to be confirmed by proper technical analysis of the materials used.

The opportunity in 2025 to view this work again has suggested an alternative reading of its status as a sketch. Could it be that the relatively crude application of washes of colour rather than being evidence of sketching on the spot was actually executed by another hand, namely the artist’s brother, John Girtin (1773–1821). He had access to the ‘180 Sketches’ and ‘4 little Books partly of Sketches’ left behind in Girtin’s studio at his death, and it is not impossible that it was he who added the colour to a simple outline to render it more saleable (Smith, 2017–18, p.36). However, although works such as A Crag on the River Nidd (TG1510) and Knaresborough, Looking across Bilton Banks (TG1542) display similar effects, and John Girtin’s intervention would certainly explain the mix-up with the title on this work, the same argument can also be made in favour of Girtin’s authorship. On balance therefore, I now think that the colouring was indeed added by Girtin, but in the studio and to an earlier on-the-spot outline drawing in order to create the effect of a sketch worked from nature and this was presumably calculated to appeal to supportive collectors of his work.

(?) 1798

Rievaulx Abbey

TG1056

(?) 1796

Richmond Castle and Bridge, from the River Swale

TG1063

1799 - 1800

A Crag on the River Nidd

TG1510

1799 - 1800

Knaresborough, Looking across Bilton Banks

TG1542