- Description
-
- Creator(s)
- Thomas Girtin (1775-1802)
- Title
-
- Easby Abbey, from the River Swale
- Date
- 1797 - 1798
- Medium and Support
- Graphite, watercolour and bodycolour on wove paper
- Dimensions
- 16.7 × 23.7 cm, 6 ⅝ × 9 ⁵⁄₁₆ in
- Inscription
‘Girtin’ lower left, by Thomas Girtin
- Object Type
- Studio Watercolour
- Subject Terms
- Monastic Ruins; River Scenery; Yorkshire View
-
- Collection
- Catalogue Number
- TG1059
- Description Source(s)
- Viewed in February 2023
Provenance
David Lloyd Roberts (1834–1920); bequeathed 1920
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 view of the west range of St Agatha’s Abbey at Easby on the River Swale in Yorkshire, the smaller of two versions of the composition (TG1060), was probably made after a sketch that Girtin executed on his first tour to the northern counties, in 1796, when he is known to have visited the nearby town of Richmond. The riverside scene is a telling example of the artist’s changing priorities in the year or so immediately following his 1796 visit to Yorkshire, whereby he chose to show the relatively nondescript part of the ruins that contained the abbey’s guest house over the architecturally more impressive ivy-clad remains of the fourteenth-century refectory, which is almost totally obscured by a lumpish modern cottage in the foreground. Girtin’s viewpoint appears to be on the other side of the river but, as David Hill has shown in relation to a comparable view by Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775–1851) (see TG1058 figure 1), it is actually on the near bank just before a bend in the river, which generates a broad uninterrupted foreground of water (Hill, 1996, p.42). In a composition that is equally about the river scenery and the landscape setting as its ostensibly antiquarian subject, Girtin was therefore able to lavish as much attention on the reflections in the water as on the buildings and their attendant vegetation. Turner’s watercolour usefully helps to illustrate the way in which Girtin changed the line of the water and pushed the cottage closer to the ruins in order to achieve the effect he was seeking, with the humble building apparently dwarfing the ruins beyond and the river uniting the various elements of the composition.
As was the case with the larger version of the composition (TG1058), this watercolour was not included by Thomas Girtin (1874–1960) and David Loshak in their catalogue (Girtin and Loshak, 1954). More recently it has been attributed to an anonymous 'follower' of Girtin and initially this is how I described it. However, a recent opportunity to view the work has confirmed a growing suspicion that this too is by Girtin. The drawing, which is in excellent condition, has a number of features in common with a group of northern subjects that Girtin produced for the publisher Rudolph Ackermann (1764–1834) to be reproduced as aquatints. Ackermann’s Four Views from Nature: From Drawings by Mr. Girtin (1800) were made from similarly sized watercolours of York Minster (TG1051) and Barnard Castle (TG1068). But it is the watercolour of Etal Castle (TG1115) which is particularly close in terms of its cool palette and the summary treatment of the foliage and the reflections in the water, certainly enough to suggest that the Easby view is from around the same time, 1796–97, and that it too was conceived with a reproductive print in mind. An authentic-looking signature to the right confirms the impression that, although this is clearly not a work of the highest quality, it is by Girtin and not a follower or copyist. The ambiguous form of the figure to the right, who may or may not be bending down to fill a container with water, is arguably characteristic of a more relaxed approach to works commissioned by the print trade.
1797 - 1798
Easby Abbey, from the River Swale
TG1059
1797 - 1799
Easby Abbey, from the River Swale
TG1058
1797 - 1799
Easby Abbey, from the River Swale
TG1058
1796 - 1797
York Minster, from the South East, Layerthorpe Bridge and Postern to the Right
TG1051
1796 - 1797
Barnard Castle, from the River Tees
TG1068
1796 - 1797
Etal Castle
TG1115