- Description
-
- Creator(s)
- Thomas Girtin (1775-1802)
- Title
-
- Kelso Abbey: The West Front
- Date
- 1800 - 1801
- Medium and Support
- Graphite and watercolour on laid paper
- Dimensions
- 39.5 × 27.5 cm, 15 ½ × 10 ⅞ in
- Object Type
- Studio Watercolour
- Subject Terms
- Monastic Ruins; The Scottish Borders
-
- Collection
-
- The Whitworth, The University of Manchester
- (D.1892.77)
- Versions
-
Kelso Abbey: The West Front
(TG1717)
- Catalogue Number
- TG1117
- Girtin & Loshak Number
- 188i as 'Kelso Abbey'; '1796–7'
- Description Source(s)
- Viewed in 2001 and February 2020
Provenance
Revd C. H. Hartshorne; Christie's, 3 June 1865, lot 45 as 'The Gateway of Kelso Castle'; John Edward Taylor (1830–1905) (lent to London, 1891); presented to the Whitworth Institute, 1892
Exhibition History
London, 1891, no.43 as ’Kelso Abbey’; Manchester, 1894, no number; Worthing, 1956, no.23; Manchester, 1973, no.48; Manchester, 1975, no.19
Bibliography
Davies, 1924, pl.42; Smith, 2002b, p.171; Nugent, 2003, p.132
Place depicted
Other entries in Late Watercolours:
Samuel William Reynolds and Painting for the Art Market
An Imaginary City, with Antique Buildings
Rhode Island School of Design Museum, Providence
Ancient Ruins, with an Obelisk
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
Ancient Ruins, with a Gothic Church
National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh
A Classical Composition, with a Church and Column
Walker Art Gallery, National Museums Liverpool
The Arch of Janus, Rome
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
The Temple of Clitumnus
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
Rome: The Temple of Antoninus and Faustina
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
Rome: The Temple of Saturn, with the Arch of Septimius Severus
Private Collection
A Town on an Estuary
Rhode Island School of Design Museum, Providence
A Lagoon Capriccio
Birmingham Museums & Art Gallery
An Unidentified Coastal Landscape with a Windmill
Lady Lever Art Gallery, Port Sunlight
Barnard Castle, from the River Tees
Bowes Museum, Barnard Castle
A Farmhouse, Said to Be near Newcastle upon Tyne
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
An Exterior View of the Ruins of Lindisfarne Priory Church
Lindisfarne Priory, Northumberland (English Heritage)
Kelso Abbey: The West Front
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester
Jedburgh Abbey, from the Riverbank
The Higgins, Bedford
On the River Medway, with a Boatyard, Beached Vessels and Hulks
Private Collection
Bisham Abbey, on the River Thames
Private Collection
A Classical Composition, with Figures Admiring the Sculptures
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester
An Unidentified Ruin next to a Bridge over a Stream, Said to Be Furness Abbey
Touchstones Rochdale
The Gatehouse of Morpeth Castle
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
Buildings on the River Nidd, near Knaresborough
British Museum, London
Kirkstall Abbey, from Kirkstall Hill
British Museum, London
Kirkstall Abbey, from Kirkstall Bridge, Morning
Victoria and Albert Museum, London
Kirkstall Abbey, from the Canal, Evening
Private Collection
A Distant View of Kirkstall Abbey
Williamson Art Gallery & Museum, Birkenhead
An Unidentified Scene, Formerly Known as ‘Kirkstall Village’
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
Wetherby Bridge and Mills, Looking across the Weir
The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
Wetherby: Looking through the Bridge to the Mills
British Museum, London
Wetherby: Looking through the Bridge to the Mills
Leeds Art Gallery
Kirk Deighton, near Wetherby
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester
York: The New Walk on the Banks of the River Ouse
Victoria and Albert Museum, London
York: The Layerthorpe Bridge and Postern
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester
York: The Layerthorpe Bridge and Postern
Private Collection
York Minster from the South East, Layerthorpe Bridge and Postern to the Right
Private Collection
A Farmyard with Barns, Ladder and Figures; A Sky Study
Courtauld Gallery, London
Ripon Minster, with Skellgate Bridge
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
Ripon Minster, with Skellgate Bridge
Leeds Art Gallery
Ripon Minster, with Skellgate Bridge
Blackburn Museum and Art Gallery
A Distant View of Ripon Minster, from the River Skell
Private Collection
Ripon Minster, from the South East
National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh
Ripon Minster, from the South West
Private Collection
The Abbey Mill, near Knaresborough
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
A Mountain Stream in Spate, Possibly the River Wharfe
Private Collection
Bolton Abbey: The East End of the Priory Church from across the River Wharfe
Eton College, Windsor
Bolton Abbey: The East End of the Priory Church, from across the River Wharfe
National Museum of Wales, Cardiff
Bolton Abbey: The East End of the Priory Church, from across the River Wharfe
Leeds Art Gallery
Bolton Abbey, from the River Wharfe
Private Collection
Bolton Abbey, from the River Wharfe
Private Collection
The Banks of the River Wharfe, with Bolton Abbey in the Distance
Private Collection
Stepping Stones on the River Wharfe, near Bolton Abbey
National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh
Stepping Stones on the River Wharfe, near Bolton Abbey
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Storiths Heights, near Bolton Abbey, from the River Wharfe
Fitzwilliam Museum, University of Cambridge
Richmond Castle, from the River Swale
Leeds Art Gallery
A Farmhouse in Malhamdale, Known as 'Kirkby Priory, near Malham'
British Museum, London
An Ancient Oak, Said to Be on the River Ure
Private Collection
Cottages at Hawes, from Gayle Beck
Birmingham Museums & Art Gallery
Cottages at Hawes, from Gayle Beck
Private Collection, Norfolk
Cottages at Hawes, from Gayle Beck
Private Collection
Cottages at Hawes, from Gayle Beck
Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
Guisborough Priory: The Ruined East End
Tate, London
A Distant View of Guisborough Priory; The Tithe Barn, Abbotsbury
Private Collection, Norfolk
A Distant View of Guisborough Priory
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
A Distant View of Guisborough Priory
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
A Farmhouse, Said to Be near Newcastle upon Tyne
Private Collection
Warkworth Castle, from the River Coquet
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
An Upland Landscape, Said to Show Etal Castle
Victoria and Albert Museum, London
The River Tweed at Kelso, Looking Upstream
Courtauld Gallery, London
The Eildon Hills, from the River Tweed
Fitzwilliam Museum, University of Cambridge
A Distant View of Dryburgh Abbey, with the Eildon Hills Beyond
Private Collection
The Valley of the Tweed, with Melrose Abbey in the Distance
Private Collection
Jedburgh Abbey, from Jed Water
Fitzwilliam Museum, University of Cambridge
Jedburgh Abbey, from the South East
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
The Village of Jedburgh
National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh
Southampton: The South Gate and Old Gaol
Private Collection
Bristol Harbour, with St Mary Redcliffe in the Distance
Bristol Museum & Art Gallery
A Wharf with Shipping, Possibly at Bristol
Art Institute of Chicago
A Rainbow over the River Exe
National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin
A Rainbow over the River Exe
The Huntington Library, Art Museum and Botanical Gardens, San Marino
A Rainbow over the River Exe
Graves Gallery, Sheffield
Lydford Castle, from the River Lyd
Clark Art Institute, Williamstown
St Vincent’s Rocks and the Avon Gorge
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester
On the River Taw, North Devon, Looking from Braunton Marsh towards Instow and Appledore
National Gallery of Art, Washington
Conwy Castle, from the River Gyffin
Private Collection, Norfolk
Chelsea Reach, Looking towards Battersea (The White House, Chelsea)
Tate, London
Chelsea Reach, Looking towards Battersea
Private Collection, Norfolk
A Panoramic Landscape, with Figures Trawling a Pond
Private Collection
Landscape with a Distant Ridge, Possibly Hampstead Heath
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
An Inn Yard, Edgware Road, Paddington
British Museum, London
The Thames from a Window of the Old Toy Inn, Hampton Court
British Museum, London
The Old Cottage, Widmore, near Bromley
British Museum, London
Shipping on the River Medway
Museum of New Zealand, Wellington
A Farmyard with Cattle, Poultry and Labourers Unloading Hay, Possibly Pinkney's Farm, Wimbish
Art Institute of Chicago
Farmhouse and Outbuildings, Possibly in Essex
Aberdeen Art Gallery
An Unidentified Village Street with a Church Tower in the Distance
British Museum, London
A Panoramic Landscape, Possibly Showing Primrose Hill, London
Private Collection
A Mountain Stream with a Watermill and Bridge
Eton College, Windsor
Unidentified Landscape with a Distant Rain Shower
National Museum of Wales, Cardiff
Warkworth Church, with the Bridge Beyond
Victoria and Albert Museum, London
An Italianate Landscape with Two Monks
Private Collection
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About this Work
This badly faded watercolour is one of two similarly sized versions of a composition (the other being TG1717) that appear to have been made from a pencil sketch (TG1116) showing the west front of the partially ruined abbey church at Kelso in the Scottish Borders. No image of the drawing is available, and it is not clear whether it was made on Girtin’s trip to the area in 1796 or on a possible visit to nearby Dryburgh in 1800. This is particularly frustrating because the pencil drawing would no doubt help with the dating of a watercolour that Thomas Girtin (1874–1960) and David Loshak suggested was produced in the immediate aftermath of the 1796 tour but that I suspect might be roughly contemporary with the other version of the composition, which is dated 1800 (Girtin and Loshak, 1954, p.160). The frustration has been compounded by the fact that it is also not possible to say which of the watercolours follows the on-the-spot sketch and which changes the building to the right, so that what appears as a humble cottage in this work is rendered as a substantial two-storey house in the other. The former makes more room for the view of the ruined south-west transept, and for that reason it looks as though it may be this undated work that has been altered from the sketch. Whichever is the case, the point is that the artist was prepared to sacrifice strict topographical accuracy in the interests of improving a composition, though, given that none of the other views of the west front of the abbey ruins that I have been able to trace feature such prominent vernacular buildings, it is possible that the structures in the foregrounds of both of Girtin’s watercolours are imaginary or included from elsewhere. Views of other ruins observed on the 1796 tour, including Bamburgh Castle (TG1459) and the similar west front of Jedburgh Abbey (TG1231), also include thatched cottages that appear to have been inserted into the composition as a contrast from the main subject, and this may be the case here.
Girtin’s first views of the abbey church at Kelso (TG0270 and TG0270a) were made after the work of Thomas Hearne (1744–1817), and they predate his first visit to the Scottish Borders by a couple of years. Returning to the subject five or so years later, and no longer working for an antiquarian market that demanded carefully delineated views, Girtin was content to depict the partially ruined structure in all of its spatial ambiguity, with the result that the image requires a certain amount of explanation to comprehend fully. What we are looking at, therefore, is the remains of the western tower flanked by the south- and north-western transepts, the latter of which is the subject of TG0270, whilst in front of that is the incomplete west front, which obscures the very short nave. The confusion occurs because the giant arch in the interior face of the tower has been filled in and thus appears to be part of the west front, whereas it was added to create an enclosed space to accommodate the parish church within the transepts. As a contemporary visitor noted, Kelso Abbey was typical of many ancient structures in the Borders, including Jedburgh and Melrose, as being ‘in part used for public worship, and in part dilapidated’. The attraction for antiquarians, the writer added, was that ‘the undiscriminating hand of modern improvement has not been laid on it’, though the ruins at Kelso were to be tidied, and the arch opened up, as soon as 1805 (Stoddart, 1801, vol.1, p.282).
1800
Kelso Abbey: The West Front
TG1717
(?) 1796
Kelso Abbey: The West Front
TG1116
1797
Bamburgh Castle, from the Village
TG1459
1796 - 1797
The West Front of Jedburgh Abbey
TG1231
(?) 1795
Kelso Abbey, from the North West
TG0270
1795 - 1796
Kelso Abbey, from the North West
TG0270a
(?) 1795
Kelso Abbey, from the North West
TG0270