This view of Grimbald Bridge is one of seven surviving sketches that Girtin executed on the river Nidd in and around Knaresborough, probably on his visit to Yorkshire in the summer of either 1799 or 1800 (the others being TG1510, TG1511, TG1512, TG1539, TG1542 and TG1589). Each of the drawings was executed on a piece of wove paper of the same vertical dimensions, and there is some evidence that they were removed from a sketchbook at some point. Two other drawings on the same paper have matching holes, which suggests that they had been bound into a book (TG1508a and TG1525). The latter sketch (Chelsea Reach, Looking towards Battersea) is missing a small section, which, as a later copy indicates (TG1601), must have strayed 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 which would account for slight variations in their size (Bower, 2002, p.141). Whatever the case, this sheet is likely to have featured amongst the ‘180 Sketches’ or ‘4 little Books partly of sketches and partly blank paper’ that John Girtin (1773–1821) records taking possession of following the artist’s death in November 1802 and which he subsequently sold on the art market (Chancery, Income and Expenses, 1804).¹

One of the views on the river Nidd (TG1589) was used as the basis for a finished watercolour (TG1550), and a fine view titled The Abbey Mill, near Knaresborough (TG1672) was also based on what appears to have been another, lost sketch from 1799, which is today known from a copy in the Whitworth Book of Drawings (TG1607). The same book (TG1323, TG1324 and TG1600–TG1625) also contains a replica of this view of Grimbald Bridge (TG1604). Slightly larger in scale, it must have been made freehand by Girtin rather than traced, as was the case with the replica of Middleham Village, with the Castle Beyond (TG1508). The likeliest scenario is that, as in the case of the Middleham sketch, Girtin found a purchaser for his on-the-spot drawing of Grimbald Bridge and that, prior to parting with it, he produced a replica that could be shown to potential clients and used as the basis for commissions similar to Abbey Mill. The bridge, which carries the old Knaresborough to Wetherby road, stands a few hundred metres downstream and might therefore have made a fine pair to the mill scene (Hill, 1999, p.44).

1799 - 1800

A Crag on the River Nidd

TG1510

1799 - 1800

Knaresborough Castle, from the High Bridge

TG1511

1799 - 1800

Bilton Banks, on the River Nidd, near Knaresborough

TG1512

1799 - 1800

Knaresborough, from the North West

TG1539

1799 - 1800

Knaresborough, Looking across Bilton Banks

TG1542

1799 - 1800

Buildings on the River Nidd, near Knaresborough

TG1589

1799 - 1800

Cottages at Hawes, from Gayle Beck

TG1508a

1799 - 1800

Chelsea Reach, Looking towards Battersea

TG1525

(?) 1801

Chelsea Reach, Looking towards Battersea

TG1601

1799 - 1800

Buildings on the River Nidd, near Knaresborough

TG1589

1800

Buildings on the River Nidd, near Knaresborough

TG1550

1800 - 1801

The Abbey Mill, near Knaresborough

TG1672

(?) 1800

The Abbey Mill, near Knaresborough

TG1607

1800 - 1801

Mountain Scenery, Said to Be near Beddgelert

TG1323

1800 - 1801

The Valley of the Glaslyn, near Beddgelert

TG1324

1798 - 1799

John Raphael Smith: ‘Waiting for the Mail Coach’

TG1600

(?) 1800

The Ruins of Old Mulgrave Castle

TG1625

(?) 1800

Grimbald Bridge, near Knaresborough

TG1604

1799

Middleham Village, with the Castle Beyond

TG1508