- Description
-
- Creator(s)
- Thomas Girtin (1775-1802)
- Title
-
- Kirk Deighton, near Wetherby
- Date
- 1800
- Medium and Support
- Graphite, watercolour and scratching out on laid paper
- Dimensions
- 32.1 × 52.2 cm, 12 ⅝ × 20 ½ in
- Inscription
‘Girtin 1800’ lower left, by Thomas Girtin
- Object Type
- Studio Watercolour
- Subject Terms
- Gothic Architecture: Parish Church; The Village; Yorkshire View
-
- Collection
-
- The Whitworth, The University of Manchester
- (D.1892.111)
- Versions
-
Kirk Deighton, near Wetherby
(TG1646)
- Catalogue Number
- TG1647
- Girtin & Loshak Number
- 394 as 'Called Godalming, Surrey'
- Description Source(s)
- Viewed in 2001, 2002 and February 2020
Provenance
George Wyndham Hog Girtin (1835–1911) (lent to London, 1871); John Edward Taylor (1830–1905) (lent to London, 1891); presented to the Whitworth Institute, 1892
Exhibition History
London, 1871, no.90 as ’Village, with Church’; London, 1891, no.46 as ’Godalming Church’; Manchester, 1894, no number as 'Godalming Church'; Agnew’s, 1931, no.113; Arts Council, 1948a, no.66; Agnew’s, 1953a, no.100 as ’Godalming Church’; London, 1954, no.118; Arts Council, 1960, no.35; Manchester, 1973, no.53; Manchester, 1975, no.77 as ’A Village Street and Church with Spire’; London, 1993, no.144; London, 2002, no.132 as ’Kirk Deighton, near Wetherby, Yorkshire’
Bibliography
Monkhouse, 1894, pl.9 as 'Godalming Church'; Sparrow, 1902, p.90; Davies, 1924, pl.83 as 'Godalming, Surrey'; Davies, 1939, pl.12; Mayne, 1949, p.101; Turberville, 1957, pp.379–80; Nugent, 2003, p.132
Place depicted
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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
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A Town on an Estuary
Rhode Island School of Design Museum, Providence
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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
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The Higgins, Bedford
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Bisham Abbey, on the River Thames
Private Collection
A Classical Composition, with Figures Admiring the Sculptures
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Touchstones Rochdale
The Gatehouse of Morpeth Castle
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
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British Museum, London
Kirkstall Abbey, from Kirkstall Hill
British Museum, London
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Victoria and Albert Museum, London
Kirkstall Abbey, from the Canal, Evening
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Williamson Art Gallery & Museum, Birkenhead
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Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
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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
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The Whitworth, The University of Manchester
York: The New Walk on the Banks of the River Ouse
Victoria and Albert Museum, London
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York: The Layerthorpe Bridge and Postern
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Private Collection
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National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh
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Private Collection
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Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
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Eton College, Windsor
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National Museum of Wales, Cardiff
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Leeds Art Gallery
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Bolton Abbey, from the River Wharfe
Private Collection
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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
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Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
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Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
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Private Collection
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Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
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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
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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
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Clark Art Institute, Williamstown
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The Whitworth, The University of Manchester
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National Gallery of Art, Washington
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Tate, London
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Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
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British Museum, London
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British Museum, London
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Museum of New Zealand, Wellington
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Art Institute of Chicago
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British Museum, London
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Eton College, Windsor
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About this Work
The correct title for this sadly faded watercolour has hitherto proved elusive, and it has variously been known as ‘Godalming’ and ‘Village Street and Church with Spire’. However, the discovery of the sketch on which the work is based (TG1646) and the fact that it is inscribed ‘near Wetherby’ led Charles Nugent, then at The Whitworth, Manchester, to confirm the identity of the village as Kirk Deighton and the church as All Saints (in a conversation with me in 2001). It is not surprising that this was not recognised sooner, since, although Girtin recorded the architectural details of the church reasonably closely, he flattened out the hill and opened up the scene as can be seen in a contemporary photograph (see TG1646 figure 1). Indeed, prompted by Nugent’s thoughts, my visit to the location suggested that the artist had made further changes to the scene. My initial thoughts were that the buildings to the right were invented, whilst those to the left seem to have been incorporated from another source, perhaps a location where the tripartite Georgian window and a prominent square tower – similar to that seen on the right-hand side of The Ouse Bridge, York (TG1649) – would have made a less incongruous appearance than here in a range of vernacular buildings that are out of scale with the rest of the composition. However, the fact that the other sketches in the sequence of Yorkshire subjects made in the summer of 1799 or 1800 were demonstrably made on the spot has caused a rethink and I now no longer believe that the sketch was made as a compositional study for the watercolour, trying out a combination of invented elements in relation to the church.
My initial doubts about the veracity of the view of Kirk Deighton stemmed from Girtin’s sometimes cavalier treatment of buildings ancillary to the main topographical subject, as in the case of Kelso Abbey: The West Front. Thus, in one version (TG1117), the right-hand side of the facade is obscured by a low thatched cottage, whilst in another (TG1717) its place is taken by a more substantial three-storey house. Therefore, even though I am no longer of the opinion that this is a hybrid scene, somewhere between a topographical view and an architectural capriccio - a composite image that signifies a typical English village rather than the depiction of an actual place - there is still something that does not quite add up. Perhaps if there was an element of invention in the composition, that might explain why Girtin went to rather greater lengths than was usually the case to populate his rural scene with a wide range of animals, figures and carts, all carefully observed and positioned.
On a technical note, the paper historian Peter Bower has identified the support used by Girtin as a coarse laid strong wrapping paper by an unknown English manufacturer (Smith, 2002b, p.171; Bower, Report). This is from the same batch as the support used for Bamburgh Castle (TG1104). This, in turn, was laid down on a contemporary off-white wove paper, probably produced by Robert Edmeads (unknown dates) and Thomas Pine (unknown dates) at Great Ivy Mill near Maidstone. The coarse support used by Girtin is particularly evident because of the work’s very faded condition, which has seen the greys of the clouds, the blues of the sky and the greens of the vegetation all reduced to an almost monochrome sepia, making the work’s compositional weaknesses even more apparent. Protected areas to the top and left suggest something of the scale of the problem.
1799 - 1800
Kirk Deighton, near Wetherby
TG1646
1800
The Ouse Bridge, York
TG1649
1800 - 1801
Kelso Abbey: The West Front
TG1117
1800
Kelso Abbey: The West Front
TG1717
1798 - 1799
Bamburgh Castle
TG1104