This sketch of cottages at Hawes in Wensleydale in Yorkshire, seen from Gayle Beck, was used by Girtin as the basis for a composition that is known in four different versions (TG1693, TG1694, TG1695 and TG1696), though only the last of these follows the landscape format recorded in the drawing. It is not known for sure when Girtin visited Hawes, but a sketch of Middleham is dated 1799 (TG1508), and it was presumably taken on his route north after his stay with his patron Edward Lascelles (1764–1814) at Harewood House. The fact that the finished watercolours all date from 1800 or 1801 also suggests that the original drawing was made in 1799, and there is further evidence to link it with a significant group of sketches from the same trip that all have roughly the same dimensions and appear to have come from a sketchbook. The sketch depicting Hawes has a particular significance for understanding Girtin’s sketching practice at this date, as the ragged edge and the holes indicate that the work was once loosely bound in with other sheets of paper. These holes match at least one other drawing on a wove paper of the same dimensions (TG1525).¹ This view (Chelsea Reach, Looking towards Battersea) is also significant because it misses a small section to the right, which, as a later copy indicates (TG1601), must have extended onto the opposite page. It seems that on just this one occasion, Girtin did execute his sketches in a book, though, as the paper historian Peter Bower has argued, it is unlikely that this was made commercially, and it may be that the artist himself assembled sheets of paper into a convenient gathering, both in which to work and to show to potential customers (Bower, 2002, p.141). This would certainly explain why amongst the dozen or so sketches of the same dimensions we find a number of different types of paper, just as is the case in the Whitworth Book of Drawings (TG1323–24 and TG1600–25), which the artist put together at a slightly later date. The touches of blue watercolour on the back of the drawing might indicate Girtin added some colour to his sketches in the field and that this has blotted from the next page. However, as with Chelsea Reach, where a touch of blue has strayed onto the image itself, it may be that it was the result of a studio accident as the artist worked on a watercolour with his sketch beside him.

1800

Cottages at Hawes, from Gayle Beck

TG1693

1800 - 1801

Cottages at Hawes, from Gayle Beck

TG1694

1800 - 1801

Cottages at Hawes, from Gayle Beck

TG1695

1801

Cottages at Hawes, from Gayle Beck

TG1696

1799

Middleham Village, with the Castle Beyond

TG1508

1799 - 1800

Chelsea Reach, Looking towards Battersea

TG1525

(?) 1801

Chelsea Reach, Looking towards Battersea

TG1601