This immersive view of the west end of Lindisfarne Priory Church, viewed from the north aisle of the nave, was painted in 1797 from an untraced sketch that Girtin made on his tour to the northern counties and the Scottish Borders in 1796. The isolated location of Lindisfarne, or Holy Island, off the Northumbrian coast, meant that despite the picturesque nature of the priory’s ruins and its association with the early Christian Church in Britain, relatively few tourists made the trip. Girtin’s earliest patron, the amateur artist and antiquarian James Moore (1762–99), was one who did, visiting in 1792, and the artist subsequently worked up one of his sketches of the subject (TG0210). There is no question that this work was copied from the drawing of an amateur, though; the complex perspective of the overlapping forms and voids would have required a professional’s skill, and I suspect that it was commissioned by Moore to represent a view that was beyond his artistic capabilities. It follows from this that Girtin may have visited Holy Island at his behest.

The watercolour was almost certainly one of the two works shown at the Royal Academy exhibition in 1797 with the title ‘St. Cuthbert’s Cathedral, Holy Island’ (Royal Academy, London, 1797, nos.434 and 763), and this is confirmed by the repetition of the idiosyncratic title on the back of the drawing possibly in Moore’s hand and by the prominent addition of a signature and date at the bottom right (see figure 1). Girtin very rarely dated his works at this time – just the two in 1797, for instance – and those that are thus inscribed tend to be exhibition pieces, such as Warkworth Hermitage (TG1096). When the drawing appeared glazed on the walls of the Royal Academy, it was likely to have been surrounded by a washline mount that, as an integral part of the watercolour, was produced by the artist himself. But as the fashionable way to display watercolours changed a later owner no doubt removed the original mount. Altogether, Girtin showed ten works at the 1797 exhibition, compared with none in the previous year, which is clear evidence that he had recently toured for the first time and that he had had some success in attracting commissions for his newly painted views. It must have been disappointing, therefore, that despite this he only attracted one review in the press and that it noted of his works that ‘though they possess considerable merit, it is evident that the Artist is careless in the detail and finishing’ (St. James’s Chronicle, 20 – 23 May 1797). Perhaps even more galling was the suggestion that ‘Mr. GIRTIN’S Drawings … appear to be formed on the style of TURNER’, especially as this complex internal view of the ruined priory at Lindisfarne seems to have inspired Turner to adopt exactly the same position when he visited the site a few months later (see figure 2).