Girtin’s finished aquatints depicting the centre of Paris covered familiar ground for much of his audience, but the locations further afield that Thomas Holcroft (1745–1809) took the artist to visit were another matter. The exception is this view of the mill at Charenton, which was the subject of any number of images by contemporary French artists (see figure 1). Indeed, a print after a painting by François Boucher (1703–70) showing the same structure was published in London earlier in the century by Francis Vivares (1709–80) (see figure 2), and it is even possible that it was known to Girtin through the collection of his early patron Dr Thomas Monro (1759–1833), who is known to have owned prints after the French artist (Girtin Archive, 36).
Girtin produced a second set of hand-coloured impressions of his etchings, which were carefully mounted and sold by John Girtin to the dedicatee of the publication, George Capel-Coningsby, 5th Earl of Essex (1757–1839), for £50, though this example has not been traced. The two sets have been the cause of considerable confusion, but, following the discovery of new evidence about John Girtin’s role in the project, it has been possible to distinguish their very different functions (Smith, 2017–18, pp.32–35). The set sold to the earl is thus complete, and it is carefully rendered and presented so as to resemble Girtin’s finished watercolours. In contrast, the group of eighteen hand-coloured etchings, which were once owned by Francis Russell, 7th Duke of Bedford (1788–1861), are very much working drawings; indeed, in some cases they have been cut down, presumably to disguise their careless treatment whilst in the studios of the four men who were employed by the Girtin brothers to add aquatint to the plates. The practical function of such drawings is also evident in the fact that, in addition to providing instructions to the professional aquatinter regarding the distribution of light and shade and the basic form of the sky and the reflections in the water, they often include Girtin’s amendments, though in this case these have been kept to a minimum.
1802
The Watermill above the Bridge at Charenton: Pencil Study for Plate Nineteen of ‘Picturesque Views in Paris’
TG1890
1802
The Watermill above the Bridge at Charenton: Pencil Study for Plate Nineteen of ‘Picturesque Views in Paris’
TG1890
1802
The Watermill above the Bridge at Charenton: Colour Study for Plate Nineteen of ‘Picturesque Views in Paris’
TG1890a
About this Work
This view of one of the watermills along the river Marne at Charenton, east of Paris, was coloured by Girtin working over a soft-ground etching (see print after TG1890), which, in turn, reproduced an on-the-spot pencil drawing made in early 1802 (TG1890). Girtin added the washes for the guidance of Frederick Christian Lewis (1779–1856), who was employed to aquatint the artist’s plate, fleshing out the etched lines with tones that approximate to those of a monochrome sketch (see print after TG1890a). The completed print was published six weeks after the artist’s death as plate nineteen of Twenty of the Most Picturesque Views in Paris and Its Environs by his widow, Mary Ann Girtin (1781–1843), and his brother, John Girtin (1773–1821), the latter of whom, in addition to financing the project, took over the final stages of its production. The twenty prints were finally published together in an edition of around 130, with the etchings selling for four guineas, the aquatints for five guineas and a set of proof impressions six guineas (Hardie, 1966–68, vol.2, p.8; Smith, 2017–18, pp.32–35). The large prints were very much a luxury product, so it is somewhat surprising that the list of subscribers includes, in addition to many of the best known of Girtin’s patrons, a significant number of artists, amongst which are the names of Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775–1851), Sir William Beechey (1753–1839), Benjamin West (1738–1820), John Hoppner (1758–1810) and Henry Edridge (1768–1821) as well as many of Girtin’s fellow watercolourists, such as John Varley (1778–1842) and John Glover (1767–1849) (Chancery, Income and Expenses, 1804).1