This view of the west front of Peterborough Cathedral, seen from a point close to the north-west tower, is one of four watercolours (the others being TG1017, TG1018 and TG1019) that Girtin made after a detailed pencil sketch (TG1014), as well as another monochrome study (TG1016), that were both executed on his first significant trip outside London. The tour through the Midland counties, in the summer of 1794, was organised by the artist’s earliest patron, the antiquarian and amateur artist James Moore (1762–99), who accompanied Girtin to Lincoln, Southwell, Lichfield, as well as Peterborough, so that his young protégé might sketch at first hand a group of the nation’s finest Gothic buildings. The earliest of the versions of the composition was painted at the end of 1794 for Moore himself (TG1017), but this work was produced a few years later as part of what appears to have been a pair with another Moore subject, The West Front of Lichfield Cathedral (TG1003). The first owner of the pair of cathedral views was James Vine (1772–1837), a merchant whose collection also included Girtin’s famous Durham Cathedral and Castle, from the River Wear (TG1074).

It is not known whether, like Moore, Vine commissioned works directly from the artist or whether he was motivated by a similar antiquarian interest. However, differences between this and the three earlier versions of the Peterborough view, as with the comparable changes to the Lichfield scene, suggest that Vine’s focus was more on Girtin’s skills as an artist than on the subject matter. For instance, Vine’s Peterborough is executed on a larger scale, and it is likely to have been acquired to be framed for display on the wall, in contrast to Moore’s commissions, which were generally placed in a mount and stored in a portfolio. This work’s pair, the view of Lichfield, bears evidence of being attached to a stretcher for display within a frame, whilst the view of Durham Cathedral appears to originally have had the same mount as this work, suggesting that all three watercolours formed part of a unified decorative ensemble. The notion that this larger version of the Peterborough composition performed a different function is reinforced by its warmer palette, which, in contrast to the cool blues and greys of the Moore subject, helps to create more dramatic contrasts of light and shade across the building, though the greater visual impact comes at the expense of the visibility of some of the architectural details. The enhanced drama of the view is even more apparent in the way that the artist has cropped the image to the right and to the top to create a more compact, close-up composition, with the effect that the north-west tower appears to burst out of the confines of the sheet, creating a powerful impression of height, the appreciation of which depends on the spectator’s imagination.

The changes seen between the three earlier views of Peterborough Cathedral and the Vine watercolour, which I take to be have been produced a couple of years after 1794, reflect more than just a shift in patronage away from a dependence on the antiquarian market, however. The change in the composition, in particular, also illustrates the influence on Girtin’s approach to the depiction of architectural subjects of the etchings of Giovanni Battista Piranesi (1720–78) (see source image TG0885). The oblique and close viewpoint adopted in the original pencil outline, as Andrew Wilton has noted, owes much to the example of Thomas Malton the Younger (1748–1804) (Wilton, 1977, p.30). However, the manner in which the later composition has been cropped, together with the greater contrast of light and shade, reflects the study of Piranesi’s prints in the intervening period, and it is telling that Girtin actually made a copy of his etching The Arch of Janus (see TG0885 figure 1). The fact that the watercolour copy probably dates from slightly later does not invalidate the point, nor does the fact that we cannot be sure where the artist came across Piranesi’s works.

On a technical point, the paper historian Peter Bower has noted that the support for the work is executed on a white wove drawing paper made by the Balston and Hollingworth Brothers Partnership at Turkey Mill, Maidstone, Kent, and that Girtin created a mount for the watercolour from a sheet of off-white wove drawing paper produced by Robert Edmeads (unknown dates) and Thomas Pine (unknown dates) at Great Ivy Mill near Maidstone (Smith, 2002b, p.99; Bower, Report).

1794

The West Front of Peterborough Cathedral

TG1017

1794

The West Front of Peterborough Cathedral

TG1018

(?) 1794

The West Front of Peterborough Cathedral

TG1019

(?) 1794

The West Front of Peterborough Cathedral

TG1014

(?) 1794

The West Front of Peterborough Cathedral

TG1016

1794

The West Front of Peterborough Cathedral

TG1017

(?) 1796

The West Front of Lichfield Cathedral

TG1003

1799

Durham Cathedral and Castle, from the River Wear

TG1074

1799 - 1800

The Arch of Janus

TG0885