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Works Unknown Artist after Thomas Girtin

A Distant View of Ripon Minster, from the River Skell

1800 - 1810

Primary Image: TG1665: An Unknown Artist, after Thomas Girtin (1775–1802), A Distant View of Ripon Minster, from the River Skell, 1800–10, watercolour on paper, 27.9 × 46.4 cm, 11 × 18 ¼ in. Private Collection.

Photo courtesy of The Canterbury Auction Galleries (All Rights Reserved)

Description
Creator(s)
Unknown Artist after Thomas Girtin (1775-1802)
Title
  • A Distant View of Ripon Minster, from the River Skell
Date
1800 - 1810
Medium and Support
Watercolour on paper
Dimensions
27.9 × 46.4 cm, 11 × 18 ¼ in
Inscription

'Girtin 1801' lower right (not visible in the photograph), not by Thomas Girtin

Object Type
Studio Watercolour
Subject Terms
Gothic Architecture: Cathedral View; River Scenery; Yorkshire View

Collection
Versions
A Distant View of Ripon Minster, from the River Skell (TG1053)
A Distant View of Ripon Minster, from the River Skell (TG1054)
Catalogue Number
TG1665
Description Source(s)
Auction Catalogue

Provenance

Charles Morland Agnew (1855–1931); then by descent to Vice-Admiral Sir William Gladstone Agnew (1898–1960); Christie's, 20 November 1979, lot 119 as 'Ripon Cathedral from the Ure', £400; Canterbury Auction Galleries, 16 October 2010, lot 155 as 'View of Ripon Cathedral from the Ure'

Exhibition History

Agnew’s, 1919, no.5; Agnew's, 1931, no.119; Agnew's, 1953a, no.83 as by Thomas Girtin

About this Work

This watercolour appears to be based on one or other of two distant views of Ripon Minster, viewed from the south east, that were sketched either on or soon after Girtin’s first independent tour, to Yorkshire and the north of England in 1796 (TG1053 and TG1054). The watercolour appeared at the major exhibition of the artist’s works organised by Agnew’s in 1953, but tellingly it was not included in Thomas Girtin (1874–1960) and David Loshak’s catalogue published a year later, presumably because the authors agreed with the judgement of Paul Oppé (1878–1957), who noted in his copy of the 1953 catalogue that it was ‘not genuine’ (Girtin and Loshak, 1954; Oppé Archive, APO/1/11/4). At more recent sales, the watercolour has retained an attribution to Girtin, but the prices realised do not suggest that the art market has any great confidence in its authenticity. The work is in poor condition, but, even making allowances for that, there is nothing in the drawing to suggest that we are looking at a mature work by Girtin, and I suspect that the signature is forged and was added to an earlier reworking of one of his compositions, possibly created by a pupil.

1796 - 1797

A Distant View of Ripon Minster, from the River Skell

TG1053

1797 - 1798

A Distant View of Ripon Minster, from the River Skell

TG1054

by Greg Smith

Place depicted

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