- Description
-
- Creator(s)
- Thomas Girtin (1775-1802)
- Title
-
- A River Scene with a Tower, Said to Be the Tyne near Hexham
- Date
- 1797 - 1798
- Medium and Support
- Watercolour on wove paper
- Dimensions
- 10.5 × 15 cm, 4 ⅛ × 6 in
- Object Type
- Colour Sketch: Studio Work
- Subject Terms
- Durham and Northumberland; River Scenery
-
- Collection
-
- Leeds Art Gallery
- (13.114/53)
- Catalogue Number
- TG1090
- Girtin & Loshak Number
- 347 as 'View on the Tyne near Hexham, Northumberland'; '1800'
- Description Source(s)
- Viewed in 2001 and February 2020
Provenance
William Reed of Sunninghill (d.1865); his posthumous sale, Christie’s, 21 April 1866, lot 20 as 'Hexham'; bought by 'Noseda', 10s; Thomas Calvert Girtin (1801–74); then by descent to George Wyndham Hog Girtin (1835–1911); by a settlement to his sister, Ida Johanna Hog Rogge, née Girtin (1834–1925), January 1880 as 'Hexham Northumberland'; sold by her to J. Palser & Sons (stock no.15482); bought by Norman Lupton, 6 March 1911; Agnes Lupton (1874–1950) and Norman Darnton Lupton (1875–1953); bequeathed to the Gallery, 1953
Exhibition History
London, 1960, no.61; Newcastle, 1982, no.87
Place depicted
Other entries in The 1796 Northern Tour to Yorkshire, the North East and the Scottish Borders:
Sketches and Subsequent Watercolours

Bamburgh Castle, from the South
Cragside House, Northumberland (National Trust)

Durham Cathedral, from the South West
British Museum, London

The Ouse Bridge, York, from the North Shore
British Museum, London

The Ouse Bridge, York, from Skeldergate Postern
York Art Gallery

York: The New Walk on the Banks of the Ouse
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven

York Minster, from the South West
Private Collection

York Minster, from the South West
Private Collection

York Minster, from the Ouse, with St Mary’s Abbey
Harewood House, Yorkshire

The South Side of York Minster, Showing the Transept and the Western Towers
Private Collection, Yorkshire

York Minster, from the South East, Layerthorpe Bridge and Postern to the Right
British Museum, London

Unidentified Gothic Ruins, Said to Be St Mary’s Abbey, York
Birmingham Museums & Art Gallery

A Distant View of Ripon Minster, from the River Skell
Private Collection

A Distant View of Ripon Minster, from the River Skell
Harewood House, Yorkshire

A Distant View of Rievaulx Abbey
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven

Easby Abbey, from the River Swale
Private Collection

Easby Abbey, from the River Swale
Manchester Art Gallery

Easby Abbey, from the River Swale
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

The Bridge at Warkworth, with the Church Beyond
Victoria and Albert Museum, London

Richmond, Yorkshire: The Seventeenth-Century House Known as St Nicholas
British Museum, London

Richmond Castle and Bridge, from the River Swale
The Huntington Library, Art Museum and Botanical Gardens, San Marino

Richmond Castle and Bridge, from the River Swale
Victoria Gallery and Museum, University of Liverpool

Richmond Castle and Town, from the South East
Private Collection

Barnard Castle, from the River Tees
British Museum, London

Egglestone Abbey, from the River Tees
Gallery Oldham

Egglestone Abbey, on the River Tees
British Museum, London

Durham Cathedral and Castle, from the River Wear
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

Durham Cathedral and Castle, from the River Wear
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester

Durham Cathedral and Castle, from the River Wear
J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles

Durham Castle and Cathedral, from below the Weir
Private Collection, Norfolk

Durham Castle and Cathedral, from below the Weir
Victoria and Albert Museum, London

Durham Castle and Cathedral, from below the Weir; Dryburgh Abbey with the Eildon Hills Beyond
Birmingham Museums & Art Gallery

Durham Cathedral, from the South West
Private Collection

St Nicholas’ Church, Newcastle-upon-Tyne
Private Collection

Tynemouth Priory, from the Coast
Cleveland Museum of Art

Bothal Castle, from the River Wansbeck
Private Collection

A River Scene with a Tower, Said to Be the Tyne near Hexham
Leeds Art Gallery

Warkworth Castle, from the River Coquet
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven

Warkworth Castle, from the River Coquet
Private Collection, Norfolk

The Bridge at Warkworth, with the Castle Beyond
Untraced Works

Dunstanburgh Castle, Viewed from a Distance
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven

Dunstanburgh Castle: The Lilburn Tower
Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle-upon-Tyne

Lindisfarne: An Interior View of the Ruins of the Priory Church
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester

Lindisfarne: An Interior View of the Ruins of the Priory Church
Fitzwilliam Museum, University of Cambridge

An Interior View of the Ruins of Lindisfarne Priory Church
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven

Lindisfarne: The Nave and Crossing of the Priory Church
British Museum, London

An Exterior View of the Ruins of Lindisfarne Priory Church
Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford

An Exterior View of the Ruins of Lindisfarne Priory Church
Private Collection

York Minster, from the South East, Layerthorpe Bridge and Postern to the Right
Victoria and Albert Museum, London

Dryburgh Abbey: The South Transept Looking North
Private Collection

Dryburgh Abbey: The South Transept from the Cloister
Private Collection

Melrose Abbey: The Ruined Presbytery and the East Window
Clark Art Institute, Williamstown

Melrose Abbey: The Ruined Presbytery and the East Window
Cooper Gallery, Barnsley

Melrose Abbey, from the North East
The Morgan Library & Museum, New York

Jedburgh Abbey, from the North East
Private Collection

Jedburgh Abbey, from Jed Water
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven

The Village of Jedburgh, with the Abbey Ruins
British Museum, London

The Village of Jedburgh, with the Abbey Ruins
Private Collection, Bedfordshire

The West Front of Jedburgh Abbey
British Museum, London

Jedburgh Abbey, from the South East
Blickling Hall, Norfolk (National Trust)

The Ruins of the Lady Chapel, near Bothal
Rhode Island School of Design Museum, Providence

Bamburgh Castle, from the Village
Guy Peppiatt Fine Art Ltd

St Nicholas’ Church, Newcastle-upon-Tyne
Victoria Gallery and Museum, University of Liverpool

Richmond, Yorkshire: The Seventeenth-Century House Known as St Nicholas
Private Collection

An Interior View of Fountains Abbey: The East Window from the Presbytery
Graves Gallery, Sheffield

St Mary’s, Old Malton, on the River Derwent
Untraced Works

York: Pavement, Looking towards All Saints
Private Collection
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About this Work
This small river scene poses a number of problems for a cataloguer that stem from uncertainty about the identity of the subject. Thomas Girtin (1874–1960) and David Loshak titled the work ‘View on the Tyne near Hexham, Northumberland’, but, although the location of the river view was identified as Hexham when the drawing first appeared on the art market in 1866, there is no evidence that Girtin ever visited the town. Another view, which Girtin and Loshak identified as ‘Hexham Bridge’ (TG1535), actually depicts Wetherby, and the river shown in this watercolour in no way resembles the much more substantial Tyne as it flows by the Northumbrian town (Girtin and Loshak, 1954, p.182). An old, now hidden inscription on the drawing says ‘Etal’, however, and indeed the river Till (near the more northerly location) does feel a closer fit with Girtin’s image. Moreover, there is some resemblance between the tower seen here and the castle, which is depicted in another watercolour by Girtin (TG1115). However, this is hardly conclusive, and without further evidence the issue must remain unresolved.
All of this has a significant effect on the dating of the work, which Girtin and Loshak give as 1800, presumably on the grounds of Hexham’s proximity to Morpeth, which Girtin appears to have visited in that year. Even if the view did turn out to be of Etal, a date of 1800 would not be out of the question as Girtin seems to have returned to that area on his way to the Scottish Borders, but that presupposes that the work was coloured on the spot, and I am unconvinced by suggestions to this effect. The works that Girtin coloured from nature – whether on his first independent tour to the north, in 1796 (such as TG1095), or on later trips to Wales and the north again (such as TG1327) – are marked by areas left untouched or unresolved. Moreover, the way that this sketch is finished to a uniform degree, and employs superimposed washes of colour, seems to me to have more in common with a different kind of commodity that Girtin actually fabricated in the studio. A dated view of Pegwell Bay from 1796 (TG0372), which could not have been coloured on the spot as Girtin did not travel to the Kent coast in that year, or in all probability ever, helps to identify a significant group of small studio watercolours, including views of Bothal Castle (TG1089) and Seaton Sluice (TG1088) that, despite their evidently hasty production, were produced in the studio. With no inscription or date to help, it is very difficult, if not impossible, to prove that a work was created from nature, and indeed that is the point; a skilful practitioner can blur the distinctions between a studio work and a sketch at will, and this is what I suspect Girtin did in this case in order to meet the growing demand for less formal examples of his work.
(?) 1800
Wetherby Bridge and Mills, Looking across the Weir
TG1535
1796 - 1797
Etal Castle
TG1115
(?) 1796
Warkworth Hermitage
TG1095
(?) 1798
Pont Seiont, Looking towards Mynydd Mawr (Big Mountain)
TG1327
1796
Pegwell Bay, near Ramsgate
TG0372
1796 - 1797
Bothal Castle, from the River Wansbeck
TG1089
1796 - 1797
Seaton Sluice
TG1088