- Description
-
- Creator(s)
- (?) Thomas Girtin (1775-1802)
- Title
-
- Southwell Minster, from the North West
- Date
- (?) 1795
- Medium and Support
- Watercolour on wove paper
- Dimensions
- 38.1 × 47 cm, 15 × 18 ½ in
- Object Type
- Studio Watercolour
- Subject Terms
- Gothic Architecture: Cathedral View; The Midlands
Provenance
'Duncan' (unidentified dealer); Christie’s, 19 March 1887, lot 35 as by Joseph Mallord William Turner; bought by 'Agnew'; Thos. Agnew & Sons (stock no.8348); bought by Sir John Pender (1815–96), 29 February 1888 (lent to London, 1894); his posthumous sale, Christie’s, 31 May 1897, lot 243 as by Joseph Mallord William Turner; bought by 'Agnew', £42; Thos. Agnew & Sons (stock no.2062); bought by John Fletcher Haworth (c.1851–1922), 2 December 1897; Gooden & Fox Ltd.; bought from them by Thos. Agnew & Sons (stock no.6596), 12 May 1908; bought by Revd John Park Haslam (1856–1925), 28 February 1912; bequeathed to the Gallery, 1949
Exhibition History
Agnew’s, 1888, no.277 as by Joseph Mallord William Turner; Agnew’s, 1909, no.23; London, 1984d, no.528, as by Joseph Mallord William Turner; Nottingham Castle Museum, 2007, no catalogue
Bibliography
Armstrong, 1902, p.278 as by Joseph Mallord William Turner
Place depicted
Other entries in The 1794 Midland Tour with James Moore, Together with Subsequent Watercolours and Studies
Newark Castle: The Gatehouse Seen from the North
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
A Landscape with a Distant Church
Abbott and Holder, London
Jedburgh Abbey, from the Riverbank
Abbott and Holder, London
An Unidentified Landscape with Distant Buildings
Private Collection
Winchester Cathedral, from the North East
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
Southwell Minster, from the North West
Southwell Minster, The Deanery
Southwell Minster, from the North West
Private Collection
The West Front of Lichfield Cathedral
Private Collection
The West Front of Lichfield Cathedral
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
The West Front of Lichfield Cathedral
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester
Lincoln Cathedral: A Distant View from the North West; Unidentified Landscape
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
Lincoln Cathedral: A Distant View from the North West
Private Collection
Lincoln Cathedral: A Distant View from the North West
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
Lincoln Cathedral, from the West
Lincoln: The Collection
Lincoln Cathedral, from the River Witham
Private Collection
Lincoln Cathedral, Viewed from Below
Towneley Hall Art Gallery & Museum
The West Front of Peterborough Cathedral
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
Part of the North-West Tower of the West Front of Peterborough Cathedral
Peterborough Museum & Art Gallery
The West Front of Peterborough Cathedral
Birmingham Museums & Art Gallery
The West Front of Peterborough Cathedral
Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
The West Front of Peterborough Cathedral
Private Collection
The West Front of Peterborough Cathedral
Courtauld Gallery, London
The West Front of Peterborough Cathedral
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester
The Ancient Charnel House, Holy Trinity Church, Stratford-upon-Avon
Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, Stratford-upon-Avon
The Ancient Charnel House, Holy Trinity Church, Stratford-upon-Avon
Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
The Ancient Charnel House, Holy Trinity Church, Stratford-upon-Avon
Private Collection, Cumbria
Southwell Minster, from the North West
Glynn Vivian Art Gallery, Swansea
Southwell Minster, from the North West
Southwell Minster, The Deanery
Southwell Minster, from the North West
Harris Museum and Art Gallery, Preston
Boston Church, from the South West
Private Collection
Tattershall Castle, from the North East
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester
Tattershall Castle, from the South West
Private Collection
The West Front of the Gatehouse of Thornton Abbey
Fitzwilliam Museum, University of Cambridge
The East Front of the Gatehouse of Thornton Abbey
Private Collection
An Unidentified Landscape (A Moorland View)
Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
An Unidentified Landscape, Known as 'The Pool'
Rhode Island School of Design Museum, Providence
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About this Work
This view of Southwell Minster from the north west has always been attributed to Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775–1851), who visited the city in the same year as Girtin, 1794. The work was not included in Andrew Wilton’s catalogue of Turner’s watercolours, however, and, given that the view is taken from exactly the same spot as Girtin’s detailed pencil drawing (TG1024), the case for attributing it to him is a strong one (Wilton, 1979). Indeed, such is the congruence between the pencil drawing, this watercolour and the view of Southwell Minster that Girtin produced for James Moore (1762–99) (TG0996) that it is not unreasonable to assume that both versions of the composition were executed from Girtin’s sketch. Details such as the precise alignment of the crossing and the western towers, the repetition of the exact position of the Chapter House in relation to the north transept, and the inclusion in both drawings of the same double gravestone in the foreground to the left all suggest that Girtin’s on-the-spot sketch was the source for both Southwell watercolours. Moreover, Turner's slight pencil drawings made in Southwark suggest a fleeting visit and no comparable view by him of the Minster has survived.
Despite being able to rule out an attribution to Turner it is by no means certain that the watercolour is by Girtin as opposed to being a copy by an anonymous artist as appears to be the case with a second example of this slightly more extended version of the composition (TG1025). The chance to view the watercolour, as opposed to working from a poor quality image, has revealed a faded work that lacks the vitality of either the version painted for Moore (TG0996) or the attractive monochrome drawing now at Southwell (TG0995) and I will consequently revisit this entry when the site is updated in the New Year. On balance, though I still think that this work is by Girtin there are sufficient reservations to merit retaining a question mark next to his name.
(?) 1794
Southwell Minster, from the North West
TG1024
1794 - 1795
Southwell Minster, from the North West
TG0996
1794 - 1800
Southwell Minster, from the North West
TG1025
1794 - 1795
Southwell Minster, from the North West
TG0996
1794 - 1795
Southwell Minster, from the North West
TG0995