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Works Thomas Girtin and Joseph Mallord William Turner after (?) John Robert Cozens

A Footbridge between Rocks, near Chamonix

1794 - 1797

Primary Image: TG0456: Thomas Girtin (1775–1802) and Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775–1851), after (?) John Robert Cozens (1752–97), A Footbridge between Rocks, near Chamonix, 1794–97, graphite and watercolour on wove paper (watermark: 1794 / J WHATMAN), 29.8 × 47.8 cm, 11 ¾ × 18 ⅞ in. Tate, Turner Bequest CCCLXXV, 24 (D36545).

Photo courtesy of Tate (All Rights Reserved)

Description
Creator(s)
Thomas Girtin (1775-1802) and Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775-1851) after (?) John Robert Cozens (1752-1797)
Title
  • A Footbridge between Rocks, near Chamonix
Date
1794 - 1797
Medium and Support
Graphite and watercolour on wove paper (watermark: 1794 / J WHATMAN)
Dimensions
29.8 × 47.8 cm, 11 ¾ × 18 ⅞ in
Inscription

‘Bridge / near Chamouni’ on the back, by Thomas Girtin

Object Type
Collaborations; Monro School Copy
Subject Terms
French View: The Alps

Collection
Catalogue Number
TG0456
Description Source(s)
Viewed in December 2017

Provenance

Dr Thomas Monro (1759–1833); his posthumous sale, Christie's, 26–28 June and 1–2 July 1833 (day and lot number not known); bought by Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775–1851); accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest, 1856

Bibliography

Finberg, 1909, vol.2, p.1235 as '"Bridge near Chamouni"' by Thomas Girtin; Turner Online as 'A Footbridge between Rocks, over a River in the Valley of Chamonix (?)' by Joseph Mallord William Turner and Thomas Girtin (Accessed 06/09/2022)

About this Work

This view of an Alpine bridge near Chamonix displays many of the signs that mark the unique collaboration between Girtin and his contemporary Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775–1851) at the home of Dr Thomas Monro (1759–1833). Here they were employed across three winters, probably between 1794 and 1797, to make ‘finished drawings’ from the ‘Copies’ of the ‘outlines or unfinished drawings of Cozens’ and other artists, amateur and professional, either from Monro’s collection or lent for the purpose. As the two young artists later recalled, Girtin generally ‘drew in outlines and Turner washed in the effects’. ‘They went at 6 and staid till Ten’, which may account for the generally monochrome appearance of the works, and, as the diarist Joseph Farington (1747–1821) reported, Turner received ‘3s. 6d each night’, though ‘Girtin did not say what He had’ (Farington, Diary, 12 November 1798).1

The title of the work comes from an inscription on the back, which appears to be in Girtin’s handwriting and which he presumably copied from the drawing on which the work is based. Although it has not been traced, it is very likely to have been a sketch by John Robert Cozens (1752–97), who was in the area of Chamonix at the end of August 1776 and whose drawing of the Aiguille Verte provided the basis for another Monro School subject (TG0457). Cozens’ sketch was probably in the form of a simple, though large-scale, outline drawing, which would have needed careful interpretation to create the ‘finished drawings’ that Monro required for his collection.

Establishing the division of labour within a Monro School drawing is considerably helped, as here, when the colour washes leave much of the pencil work showing clearly. Although the nature of the subject did not require much detail, Girtin’s hand is clearly apparent under Turner’s economical use of a simple palette of greys and blues. However, perhaps because of the larger scale of the work, areas that are not fully realised in colour detract from the overall effect. The watercolour is one of a group of Swiss subjects that were acquired by Turner at the posthumous sale of Monro in 1833 and that are now in the Turner Bequest at Tate Britain (sold at Christie’s, 26–28 June and 1–2 July 1833).

1794 - 1797

Between Chamonix and Martigny, the Aiguille Verte

TG0457

by Greg Smith

Place depicted

Footnotes

  1. 1 The full diary entry, giving crucial details of the artists’ work at Monro’s house, is transcribed in the Documents section of the Archive (1798 – Item 2).

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