This view on the river Nidd in Yorkshire was known to Thomas Girtin (1874–1960) and David Loshak only from an exhibition catalogue that lacked illustrations and it was wrongly titled ‘Crummock Water, Cumberland’ (Girtin and Loshak, 1954, p.208). The location of the scene, however, is noted on the back of the drawing as being ‘Between Knaresbro and Weatherby’, two towns that Girtin made the subject of a number of watercolours worked up from on-the-spot sketches in or around 1800 (for instance TG1550 and TG1643). In addition to these views, the artist also made a number of other sketches along the course of the river Nidd (such as TG1604 and TG1611) and given that this sketch is inscribed by Girtin with the date it appears that the whole group was produced in the summer of 1800 when he is documented as staying with his patron Edward Lascelles (1764–1814) at nearby Harewood House. The exact location of the view is not known, but it must have been accessible from the road between the two towns which are thirteen kilometres apart and it was no doubt sketched as part of a search for local subjects that might appeal to Lascelles as commissions.
The inscription on the back of the drawing is of further significance as, uniquely for Girtin, it notes that it was ‘Coloured on the spot’. Only a handful of Girtin’s sketches are dated with anything more than the year of their production and examples that give a more precise date such as The River Dee, near Corwen (TG1347) are not specified as being coloured from nature. Such is the documentary significance of the inscription that one of my research priorities was to establish its authenticity, but it was only in the summer of 2025 that I was finally able to rule out the possibility that the words were added by a later owner. Confirmation of the drawing’s status as an on-the-spot sketch is particularly important in this case because the visual evidence has been compromised by its poor, faded condition. An unfaded strip to the left that was once protected by a later mount from the damaging effect of high light levels, indicates that the watercolour was never brightly coloured, as well as suggesting that it did not include a skyscape, a clear sign that it was indeed sketched in haste on the spot. The restricted palette employed by Girtin means that it originally resembled another large-scale, on-the-spot sketch that the artist made at a nearby location in 1800, Plumpton Rocks, near Knaresborough (TG1552).

The inscription takes on an added significance because there are a number of aspects of its appearance that are ambiguous as signifiers of a work executed at speed from life. There are, for instance, passages in the trees and in the water that seem too composed and carefully worked to be consistent with Girtin’s general practice when sketching in the field. Furthermore, there does not appear to be an enormous difference in terms of finish between this work and another version of the composition with roughly the same measurements and which, though not dated, is signed and similarly inscribed with the location on the back (TG1670). In conclusion, although I believe that TG1670 is a studio work based on the sketch discussed here, the sheet ‘Coloured on the spot’ may still be something of a hybrid: its colouring begun from nature, but enhanced back in the studio with the aim of attracting a customer. In which case the inscription is both a statement of fact and also a way of attracting the interests of a particular type of collector who prized Girtin’s naturalistic credentials.

1800

Buildings on the River Nidd, near Knaresborough

TG1550

(?) 1800

Wetherby: Looking through the Bridge to the Mills

TG1643

(?) 1800

Grimbald Bridge, near Knaresborough

TG1604

(?) 1800

A Crag on the River Nidd

TG1611

1798

The River Dee, near Corwen

TG1347

(?) 1800

Plumpton Rocks, near Knaresborough

TG1552

(?) 1800

The River Nidd, Between Knaresborough and Wetherby

TG1670

(?) 1800

The River Nidd, Between Knaresborough and Wetherby

TG1670