A different view of Dovedale has also been attributed to Girtin in the past (see figure 3), though it did not appear in Thomas Girtin (1874–1960) and David Loshak’s catalogue (Girtin and Loshak, 1954). The watercolour shows llam Rock from further down the valley. The only feature reminiscent of Girtin’s work is the way that the rocks in the river form into diagonal lines, much as they do in Stepping Stones on the River Wharfe (TG1685), and it was this that presumably suggested the rather speculative attribution.
1799 - 1800
Borrowdale
TG1582
1800 - 1801
Stepping Stones on the River Wharfe, near Bolton Abbey
TG1685
About this Work
This very faded watercolour appeared at auction in 2015 having not been seen in public for over a century. It was suggested in the sale catalogue that the view of Dovedale in Derbyshire in the Peak District resulted from a visit by Girtin to the romantic landscape of the region, probably in 1799 or 1800. However, although it is perfectly possible that the artist took a detour either on the way to or returning from one of his visits to Yorkshire and the north east in those years, there is no other evidence, in the form of sketches or indeed other views of the Peak District, to suggest that he travelled to the area, and it is likely that the watercolour was executed after a sketch by another artist. When the work was sold in 1887, it was noted that it was dated 1800. However, though its poor condition makes that difficult to confirm, and the inscription (presumably on an old mount) also seems to have been lost, a relatively late date is still possible, and this, in turn, does not invalidate the suggestion that the view was copied from another artist. Many of Girtin’s views of the Lake District, another area well known for its dramatic scenery but that the artist did not visit, were copied from sketches by the amateur artist Sir George Howland Beaumont, 7th Baronet (1753–1827) (such as TG1582), and they also date from about the same time. That said, the most obvious source for Girtin’s watercolour – a sketch by his master, Edward Dayes (1763–1804), who made some of the Peak District’s most spectacular scenery the subject of a number of watercolours (see figure 1) – can be discounted. Dayes’ ecstatic description of the sublime scenery of Dovedale, found in his posthumously published Excursion through the Principal Parts of Derbyshire and Yorkshire, was undertaken in the autumn of 1803 – that is, after Girtin’s death (Dayes, Works).
If the work is not after Dayes, then the later date does not preclude the possibility that Girtin’s source dates from earlier and specifically that he encountered the subject during the period of his employment copying drawings for Dr Thomas Monro (1759–1833). This possibility is strengthened by the existence of an early view of Ilam Rock, Dovedale, apparently signed by Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775–1851) (see figure 2), which similarly appears to be a copy. This, in turn, was copied by the amateur artist John Henderson (1764–1843), who inscribed his version ‘From a sketch by Turner belonging to T. Monro’ (Rhode Island School of Design, Providence (2016.80.133)). And so, although it has been suggested that Turner’s view was made on his tour of the Midlands in 1794, the Monro provenance suggests that he too based his work on a sketch by another artist, and there is even a possibility that Girtin collaborated in its production, being responsible for the pencil work.1 However, although there are no obvious candidates for either artist’s source amongst the thousands of drawings sold posthumously from Monro’s collection, on balance, Girtin’s watercolour appears to be a late offshoot of the Monro School.