- Description
-
- Creator(s)
- Thomas Girtin (1775-1802)
- Title
-
- London from Highgate Hill
- Date
- 1792
- Medium and Support
- Graphite and watercolour on wove paper
- Dimensions
- 33.8 × 49 cm, 13 ¼ × 19 ¼ in
- Inscription
‘. Girtin / 92 ’ lower left, by Thomas Girtin (the signature has been cut, suggesting that it once extended onto an original mount which has been lost)
- Object Type
- Studio Watercolour
- Subject Terms
- London and Environs; The View from Above
-
- Collection
- Catalogue Number
- TG0060
- Description Source(s)
- Viewed in 2001 and 2002
Provenance
Sir Andrew Gilchrist; Sotheby's, 18 December 1957, lot 33; bought by Spink & Son Ltd, London, £26; bought from them by Paul Mellon (1907–99), 1964; presented to the Center, 1977
Exhibition History
New Haven, 1986a, no.4; London, 2002, no.21
Bibliography
Mayne, 1949, no.10
Place depicted
Other entries in Master and Pupil:
Edward Dayes and the Industrious Apprentice
An Icelandic Woman in Her Riding Dress
National Museum of Iceland, Reykjavik
An Icelandic Woman with Her Young Daughter
National Museum of Iceland, Reykjavik
The Great Geysir, Iceland, as It Appeared during Its Eruption to Sir Joseph Banks in September 1772
Private Collection
Mount Hekla, with Sir Joseph Banks and His Party Descending from the Volcano
Private Collection
Lava as It Has Run Over the Ridge of a Hill, Iceland
Private Collection
The House of Thorstein Jonsson at Hvaleyri, Iceland
National Museum of Iceland, Reykjavik
A Section of the 'Boiling Fountains' (Geysers) and the Surrounding Country, Iceland
Private Collection
The Basalt Pillars near Laugarnes, Iceland
Private Collection
An Icelandic Woman in Her Bridal Dress
National Museum of Iceland, Reykjavik
Durham Cathedral, from the River Wear
The Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg
Eton College, from the River
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
London: Interior of St Stephen Walbrook, Looking East
Private Collection
Rochester, from the River Medway
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
St Mary’s Church, Battersea
Blackburn Museum and Art Gallery
Unidentified Coastal Village, Said to Be Clovelly
Private Collection
The Monument to Anthony and Anne Forster, Cumnor Church
Private Collection
The Interior of Buildwas Abbey Church
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
Somerset House: The Strand Front and the Royal Academy
Untraced Works
An Exterior View of Henry VII’s Chapel, Westminster Abbey
The Huntington Library, Art Museum and Botanical Gardens, San Marino
Westminster Bridge, from the North East
Untraced Works
The Oxford Street Facade of the Pantheon
Untraced Works
The Interior of Westminster Abbey: The Nave Looking East
Untraced Works
The Queen’s Palace, or Buckingham House
Royal Collection Trust (Windsor)
The King’s Mews, Charing Cross
London Metropolitan Archives
The East Front of St Paul’s Church, Covent Garden
Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
The West Front of St Martin-in-the-Fields
Untraced Works
The Banqueting House, Whitehall
Victoria and Albert Museum, London
The Interior of St Paul’s Cathedral: The Nave Looking East
Untraced Works
St Paul’s Cathedral, from the South West
Untraced Works
The West Front of St Paul’s Cathedral
Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
The West Front of Westminster Abbey
Untraced Works
Interior of St Stephen Walbrook, Looking East
Untraced Works
A French Lady of Quality in 1581
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
Edward VI in 1550
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
A Noble Virgin of Bologna in 1581
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
A Persian Lady in 1568
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
An English Nobleman in 1559
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
Henry VIII in 1520
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
Marlow, from across the River Thames
Private Collection
Tynemouth Priory, from the Coast
Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York
The River Wensum at Norwich
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Rochester Castle, from the River Medway
The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
Tintern Abbey, from the River Wye
Courtauld Gallery, London
All Saints' Church, Fulham, from the Seven Bells, Putney
Private Collection
London from Highgate Hill
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
'First Regiment of Foot Guards, 1660': Officer and Subaltern
British Museum, London
'First Regiment of Foot Guards, 1660': Sergeant and Private
British Museum, London
First Regiment of Foot Guards, 1660: Drummer and Private
Brown University Library, Providence, Anne S. K. Brown Military Collection
'Coldstream Regiment of Foot Guards, 1650': Officer and Sergeant
British Museum, London
'Coldstream Regiment of Foot Guards, 1650': Sergeant and Private
British Museum, London
Coldstream Regiment of Foot Guards, 1650: Drummer and Corporal
Brown University Library, Providence, Anne S. K. Brown Military Collection
'Third Regiment of Foot Guards, 1660': Officer and Sergeant
British Museum, London
'Third Regiment of Foot Guards, 1660': Grenadier and Private
British Museum, London
Third Regiment of Foot Guards, 1660: Drummer and Private
Brown University Library, Providence, Anne S. K. Brown Military Collection
Christ Church, Southwark
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
Llanthony Priory
Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
Rochester, from the North
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
The View from the Great Boathouse, Lake Windermere
Private Collection
Westminster Abbey and Bridge, from Lambeth
Private Collection
The Dover Mail, Dover Castle in the Distance
Private Collection
Rochester Cathedral and Castle, from the North East
Eton College, Windsor
Worcester, from the River Severn
Indianapolis Museum of Art at Newfields
Lake Windermere and Belle Isle
Wordsworth Grasmere (Dove Cottage and Wordsworth Museum)
London Bridge, from the South Bank
Private Collection
The Demolition of a Building, Said to Be Part of the Ruins of Old Drury Lane Theatre
Private Collection
Dover Castle: The Constable's Tower
Untraced Works
A Cottage on the Solent
Birmingham Museums & Art Gallery
Hereford Cathedral, from the River Wye
Hereford Museum and Art Gallery
Chepstow Castle, on the River Wye
Victoria and Albert Museum, London
Warehouse and Shipping at Wapping
Leicester Museum & Art Gallery
A Distant View of Hereford Cathedral
Private Collection
The Gatehouse and Barbican, Warwick Castle
Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco
Chepstow Castle, from the River Wye
Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
The Interior of a Ruined Abbey Church
Private Collection
The Head of Ullswater, from Goborrow Park
Private Collection
Part of the Ruins of Roche Abbey
Private Collection
The Transept of St Saviour’s, Southwark
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
Part of the Ruins of the Savoy Palace, Westminster Bridge Beyond
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
Durham Cathedral, from the River Wear
Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle upon Tyne
All Saints' Church, Marlow
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester
Caesar’s Tower, Warwick Castle
Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
An Interior View of the Ruins of the Savoy Hospital
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
A Bronze Age Palstave and a Roman Bow Brooch
Society of Antiquaries of London
All Saints' Church, Marlow
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
Unidentified Monastic Ruins next to a River
Private Collection
Westminster, from the Ruins of the Savoy
National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh
Manchester: Chetham’s College from Hunt’s Bank, with the Bridge over the River Irwell
Untraced Works
Part of the Ruins of the Savoy Palace, Westminster Bridge Beyond
Private Collection
The Oriel Window of the Great Hall of Eltham Palace
Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
An Exterior View of Part of the Ruins of the Savoy Hospital
Private Collection
A Distant View of Marlow, from the River Thames
The Huntington Library, Art Museum and Botanical Gardens, San Marino
A Distant View of Marlow, from the River Thames
Private Collection
An Interior View of the Ruins of the Savoy Hospital
Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
Part of the Ruins of the Savoy Palace, Westminster Bridge Beyond
Private Collection
Buildings in the Process of Demolition, Said to Be the Ruins of the Savoy Palace
Tate, London
An Exterior View of Part of the Ruins of the Savoy Hospital
Tate, London
An Interior View of the Ruins of the Savoy Hospital
Tate, London
St Mary’s Church, Monken Hadley
Tate, London
An Exterior View of the Great Hall of Eltham Palace
Victoria and Albert Museum, London
The Interior of the Great Hall of Eltham Palace
Private Collection
The Interior of the Great Hall of Eltham Palace
Private Collection
The Interior of the Great Hall of Eltham Palace
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
St Mary's Church, Putney High Street
Private Collection
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About this Work
This signed and dated view of London from Highgate Hill provides a benchmark against which to judge and date other watercolours from a period when all the evidence suggests Girtin’s apprenticeship to Edward Dayes (1763–1804) was either over or coming to a premature end. The work is particularly significant because, for the first time with Girtin’s surviving watercolours, there are no signs that the student based his composition on another artist’s work. Dayes’ own view London from Highgate (see figure 1), which was engraved and published in 1797, is taken from a more distant point and although it also shows a prominent St Paul’s in the centre, Girtin clearly did not copy his master’s work as he was forced to do when depicting a scene he had not experienced at first hand, as with his view of Rochester Castle (TG0057). Like many other young artists at this period, Girtin visited the villages north of London to sketch the scenery, and this watercolour was presumably produced from an untraced drawing of the view towards the city across the then undeveloped countryside. Pointedly, Girtin dispenses with the flanking trees employed by Dayes to frame his view from Highgate and places a group of trees in the centre to divide the composition in a characteristically idiosyncratic manner. This does not necessarily mean that the watercolour was made away from Dayes’ studio, however, and it is important to remember that Girtin’s master sent London views by his apprentice to Greenwood’s auction house in June 1791 and again in February 1792 (Exhibitions: Greenwood, 10 June 1791; Greenwood, 9 February 1792). Producing works for his master to sell was one way that an apprentice could buy out his indentures and it may be that this London view, even if it was not the work sent to Greenwood’s, was painted for this purpose, perhaps along with views of Rochester (TG0057), Durham (TG0012) and the Lake District (TG0078). These watercolours are invariably signed and, as here, even where the mount has been lost, there is evidence that it was an integral part of the work. The ‘T’ from the signature has not been cut away; however, having partly strayed onto the original mount, it was lost when the support was removed in response to changes in the fashion for displaying watercolours.
Girtin may not have used his master’s composition, but in other respects London from Highgate Hill illustrates his continuing dependence on Dayes. This is especially seen in Girtin’s restricted palette and in mannerisms including the way he depicts the foliage, which recalls his master’s tree studies, such as The Oak Tree (see TG0993 figure 1). The dark foreground, with its summary treatment of forms, is again a very Dayesian touch that, when combined with the distant view over the capital, exposes the young artist’s shortcomings in the use of aerial perspective. Details such as the glasshouses, which line up with the dome of St Paul’s Cathedral, show how closely Girtin observed the view over the city, but they sit slightly uneasily with the residual conventions learnt in the studio from copying Dayes’ works.
(?) 1791
Rochester Castle, from the River Medway
TG0057
(?) 1791
Rochester Castle, from the River Medway
TG0057
1790
Durham Cathedral, from the River Wear
TG0012
1791 - 1792
Lake Windermere and Belle Isle
TG0078