- Description
-
- Creator(s)
- (?) Thomas Girtin (1775-1802)
- Title
-
- The River Wensum at Norwich
- Date
- 1791 - 1792
- Medium and Support
- Graphite and watercolour on laid paper
- Dimensions
- 32.4 × 47.6 cm, 12 ¾ × 18 ¾ in
- Inscription
'T. Girtin' lower right, by (?) Thomas Girtin (the signature has been cut, suggesting that it once extended onto an original mount which has been lost)
- Object Type
- Copy from an Unknown Source; Studio Watercolour
- Subject Terms
- City Life and Labour; East Anglia: Norfolk and Suffolk; River Scenery
-
- Collection
- Catalogue Number
- TG0056
- Description Source(s)
- Viewed in May 2025
Provenance
Charles James Pooley (1836–1900); his sale, Christie’s, 6 March 1880, lot 27, unsold; his sale, Christie’s, 24 February 1888, lot 62 as 'A View in Norwich barges in river’, £10 6s; Sir John Charles Robinson (1824-1913); Christie's, 25 February 1907, lot 55; bought by 'Shepherd', £54 12s; Shepherd Brothers, London; bought from them by the Museum, 1907
Bibliography
Fry, 1907, pp.201–02; Carlisle, 1950, p.22
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
Footnotes
- 1 Andrew Wyld presumably thought that the signature was a forgery and suggested in a note on the work’s mount that it might be the work of Robert Dixon (1780–1815). However, I have not been able to find any close stylistic link with this watercolour and the younger artist’s depictions of Norwich.
- 2 A watercolour depicting another river scene, Bishop's Bridge, Norwich, still retains an attribution to Girtin (Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, 1899.3). A young John Sell Cotman (1782–1842) would appear to be a more likely candidate for its authorship.
Revisions & Feedback
The website will be updated from time to time and, when changes are made, a PDF of the previous version of each page will be archived here for consultation and citation.
Please help us to improve this catalogue
If you have information, a correction or any other suggestions to improve this catalogue, please contact us.
About this Work
This watercolour was bought in 1907 as by Girtin, but the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, has more recently demoted its status to ‘Anonymous British’ with the suggestion that the signature is forged.1 Thomas Girtin (1874–1960) and David Loshak did not include the work in their catalogue of Girtin’s watercolours (Girtin and Loshak, 1954), but the authors were not always kind to his apprenticeship works and it is perhaps time to revisit the possibility that this is indeed a very early work.
The most compelling point in favour of an attribution to Girtin is the signature, which, far from being an obvious forgery, resembles the form found on many of the works that Girtin produced during his apprenticeship to Edward Dayes (1763–1804), such as the interior view of St Stephen Walbrook (TG0014). The signature in the bottom right corner of this drawing has been cut at its lower edge and this probably resulted from the later removal of the original mount, onto which the writing had partly strayed. This form of presentation was typical of Girtin’s apprenticeship drawings, notably Rochester Castle, from the River Medway (TG0057). The biggest obstacle to an attribution to Girtin is the lack of comparable material since most of the surviving works from 1790–92 feature architectural subjects with an antiquarian interest and a working river with warehouses only subsequently featured in the artist's work sporadically (TG1649). Thus, whilst it is possible to believe that the poor perspective of the wall to the right and the schematic representation of the windows with their black infill might have been the result of the struggles of a very young artist working in an unfamiliar subject area, there are just a couple of few points of comparison that might help to substantiate the attribution. The pencil work on the wall to the right does indeed recall Girtin’s use of a broken line in areas of masonry, whilst the figures looking out from the upper part of the warehouse bear some resemblance to those in Rochester, from the River Medway (TG0015) which is signed and dated 1791. On balance, therefore, I am happy to reinstate Girtin’s name to the drawing, but given the paucity of the comparative material it is prefixed with a question mark.
As for the subject, there is no suggestion that Girtin ever visited Norwich, unlike his master Dayes, who did indeed produce a number of depictions of the city from on-the-spot sketches. These invariably concentrate on the cathedral in contrast to the emphasis on the commercial activities of the city’s crowded waterways shown here, and it must be admitted that this is more typical of the views produced by Norwich’s native artists, such as John Crome (1768–1821), though no model has been found in their work either.2 Norwich was extremely well documents by both visitors and local artists and it is surprising that no image of a comparable scene on the river Wensum has been found. The work was described as showing Norwich at its earliest sale in 1880 and though the identification may be correct, another location may suggest why no source has been found.
1790
London: Interior of St Stephen Walbrook, Looking East
TG0014
(?) 1791
Rochester Castle, from the River Medway
TG0057
1800
The Ouse Bridge, York
TG1649
1791
Rochester, from the River Medway
TG0015