- Description
-
- Creator(s)
- Thomas Girtin (1775-1802)
- Title
-
- Lindisfarne: The Nave and Crossing of the Priory Church
- Date
- 1796 - 1797
- Medium and Support
- Graphite and watercolour on laid paper
- Dimensions
- 52.8 × 39.3 cm, 20 ¾ × 15 ⅜ in
- Object Type
- Studio Watercolour
- Subject Terms
- Durham and Northumberland; Monastic Ruins
-
- Collection
- Catalogue Number
- TG1108
- Girtin & Loshak Number
- 184 as 'Interior of Lindisfarne Priory'
- Description Source(s)
- Viewed in 2001, 2002 and 2018
Provenance
Chambers Hall (1786–1855); presented to the Museum, 1855
Exhibition History
(?) Royal Academy, London, 1797, no.434 or no.763 as ’St. Cuthbert’s Cathedral, Holy Island’; Newcastle, 1982, no.78; London, 1984d, no.527; London, 2002, no.45
Bibliography
Binyon, 1898–1907, no.41 as 'Abbey of Lindisfarne'; Binyon, 1900, pl.10; Sparrow, 1902, p.101; Stokes, 1922, p.74; Johnson, 1932, pp.145–46
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
Footnotes
- 1 The relevant entries from Linnell’s journal are transcribed in the Documents section of the Archive (1820 – Item 1).
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About this Work
This view of the nave of the ruined priory church at Lindisfarne, looking west from the crossing, appears to have been produced by Girtin soon after his return from his first independent tour, to the northern counties and the Scottish Borders, in 1796. Lindisfarne Priory, on Holy Island, off the Northumberland coast, is the focus of three surviving on-the-spot sketches by Girtin (TG1105, TG1109 and TG1112). From these he executed studio watercolours of five different compositions, making the priory ruins one of the most significant subjects that he sketched on the 1796 tour. The sketch on which this work is based has not been traced, but there is no doubt that the imposing watercolour was the outcome of Girtin’s close observation of the scene at first hand, unlike his first effort at this view (TG0210). This was painted around 1793 from a sketch by Girtin’s earliest patron, the antiquarian and amateur artist James Moore (1762–99) (see TG0210 figure 1), who not surprisingly struggled to master the complex perspective of the view into the north transept and failed totally to capture the dramatic spectacle of the surviving arch of the crossing tower as it forms a ‘semicircle over the chasm’, as the writer William Hutchinson (1732–1814) termed it (Hutchinson, 1785–94, vol.3, p.364). Working on the spot, Girtin was able not only to make sense of the structure of the ruins but also to adopt a viewing point that helps to monumentalise a site that, though highly picturesque in its untouched state, was not particularly imposing in reality. As with the comparable view of the west end viewed from the north aisle of the nave (TG1107), one is tempted to attribute the way in which Girtin has enhanced the subject’s drama – by framing the view with the masonry of the choir cut at the top and sides – to the example of Giovanni Battista Piranesi (1720–78) (see TG1107 figure 2). Though Piranesi’s influence may have been filtered through the work of John Robert Cozens (1752–97), there is little doubt that it was ultimately the example of his work that helped Girtin to achieve a new monumentality in his architectural scenes around 1797. The importance of Girtin’s personal experience of a location has one more element to it, namely that the stone colour in this and some of the other Lindisfarne views may seem rather gaudy, but it is in fact quite accurate. The red sandstone, as Hutchinson again noted, was crucial to the effect of the ruins since ‘it yields much to time and renders the aspect of the building dark and melancholy’.
The comparable view of the interior of Lindisfarne Priory (TG1107) was almost certainly exhibited at the 1797 Royal Academy exhibition as one of two works with the title ‘St. Cuthbert’s Cathedral, Holy Island’ (Exhibitions: Royal Academy, London, 1797, nos.434 and 763). This, the much bigger work, was probably the other one to be exhibited, rather than either TG1106 or TG1110. The 1797 view was commissioned by James Moore (1762–99), and, though the identity of the earliest owner of this work is not known, it is inconceivable that such a large and imposing watercolour was not ordered from Girtin by a significant patron. Dr Thomas Monro (1759–1833) is best known today for his employment of Girtin and his contemporary Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775–1851) in copying the sketches of Cozens. However, he also commissioned at least three major watercolours from Girtin’s sketches made on the 1796 northern tour, including views of Durham (TG0919) and Jedburgh (TG1231), and he must be the prime candidate here as well. Perhaps this was one of the works sold from his collection in 1820 to Chambers Hall (1786–1855) through the auspices of John Linnell (1792–1882). The Lindisfarne view came to the British Museum from Hall’s collection and it may therefore be the watercolour that Linnell referred to when he noted that he had ‘Brought away a drawing by Girtin to sell price 10 gs.’ (Linnell, Journal, 1817–23).1
Turner employed the same upright composition for his on-the-spot sketch of the interior of the ruins at Lindisfarne, made on his tour to the north east in the following year, 1797 (see figure 1). As on a number of occasions when sketching in York (see TG1655 figure 1), Durham (see TG1073 figure 1) and Warkworth (see TG1098 figure 1), Turner seems to have had Girtin’s earlier drawing in mind when he adopted the same viewpoint to work from, and, as David Hill first proposed, it is likely that he studied his colleague’s sketches before setting out on his later tour (Hill, 1996, pp.4–5). Girtin’s untraced original sketch would have appeared very similar to Turner’s, but, although it was probably on roughly the same scale, it would have been produced on a separate sheet of paper rather than in a sketchbook, as was Turner’s practice at this time.
On a technical note, the paper historian Peter Bower has identified the support used as a laid cartridge paper produced by an unknown English manufacturer, and it is the same as the material Girtin used for a copy of an etching by Piranesi (TG0886) (Smith, 2002b, p.71; Bower, Report). The low-grade paper is marked by a large number of spots, visible particularly in the sky, where impurities have become discoloured. The horizontal lines apparent across the sheet, though particularly visible in the darker areas to the left, are caused by the watercolour washes sinking into the troughs left by the laid lines of the paper mould used in the manufacture of the coarse-textured cartridge paper.
(?) 1796
Lindisfarne: An Interior View of the Ruins of the Priory Church
TG1105
(?) 1796
An Exterior View of the Ruins of Lindisfarne Priory Church
TG1109
(?) 1796
Lindisfarne Castle
TG1112
1792 - 1793
Lindisfarne Priory Church, Looking West from the Choir
TG0210
1797
An Interior View of the Ruins of Lindisfarne Priory Church
TG1107
1797
An Interior View of the Ruins of Lindisfarne Priory Church
TG1107
1797 - 1798
Lindisfarne: An Interior View of the Ruins of the Priory Church
TG1106
1797 - 1798
An Exterior View of the Ruins of Lindisfarne Priory Church
TG1110
1796 - 1797
Durham Cathedral, from the South West
TG0919
1796 - 1797
The West Front of Jedburgh Abbey
TG1231
1797 - 1798
The Temple of Augustus at Pula in Istria
TG0886