- Description
-
- Creator(s)
- Thomas Girtin (1775-1802)
- Title
-
- Tynemouth Priory, from the Coast
- Date
- 1797 - 1798
- Medium and Support
- Graphite and watercolour on laid paper
- Dimensions
- 31.8 × 40.6 cm, 12 ½ × 16 in
- Part of
- Object Type
- Studio Watercolour
- Subject Terms
- Coasts and Shipping; Durham and Northumberland; Monastic Ruins
-
- Collection
- Versions
-
Tynemouth Priory, from the Coast
(TG1085)
- Catalogue Number
- TG1086
- Description Source(s)
- Museum Website
Provenance
James Parmelee; bequeathed to the Museum, 1940
Bibliography
Cleveland, 1958, no.472; Cleveland, 1966, p.183
Place depicted
Other entries in The 1796 Northern Tour to Yorkshire, the North East and the Scottish Borders:
Sketches and Subsequent Watercolours

Bamburgh Castle, from the South
Cragside House, Northumberland (National Trust)

Durham Cathedral, from the South West
British Museum, London

The Ouse Bridge, York, from the North Shore
British Museum, London

The Ouse Bridge, York, from Skeldergate Postern
York Art Gallery

York: The New Walk on the Banks of the Ouse
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven

York Minster, from the South West
Private Collection

York Minster, from the South West
Private Collection

York Minster, from the Ouse, with St Mary’s Abbey
Harewood House, Yorkshire

The South Side of York Minster, Showing the Transept and the Western Towers
Private Collection, Yorkshire

York Minster, from the South East, Layerthorpe Bridge and Postern to the Right
British Museum, London

Unidentified Gothic Ruins, Said to Be St Mary’s Abbey, York
Birmingham Museums & Art Gallery

A Distant View of Ripon Minster, from the River Skell
Private Collection

A Distant View of Ripon Minster, from the River Skell
Harewood House, Yorkshire

A Distant View of Rievaulx Abbey
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven

Easby Abbey, from the River Swale
Private Collection

Easby Abbey, from the River Swale
Manchester Art Gallery

Easby Abbey, from the River Swale
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

The Bridge at Warkworth, with the Church Beyond
Victoria and Albert Museum, London

Richmond, Yorkshire: The Seventeenth-Century House Known as St Nicholas
British Museum, London

Richmond Castle and Bridge, from the River Swale
The Huntington Library, Art Museum and Botanical Gardens, San Marino

Richmond Castle and Bridge, from the River Swale
Victoria Gallery and Museum, University of Liverpool

Richmond Castle and Town, from the South East
Private Collection

Barnard Castle, from the River Tees
British Museum, London

Egglestone Abbey, from the River Tees
Gallery Oldham

Egglestone Abbey, on the River Tees
British Museum, London

Durham Cathedral and Castle, from the River Wear
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

Durham Cathedral and Castle, from the River Wear
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester

Durham Cathedral and Castle, from the River Wear
J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles

Durham Castle and Cathedral, from below the Weir
Private Collection, Norfolk

Durham Castle and Cathedral, from below the Weir
Victoria and Albert Museum, London

Durham Castle and Cathedral, from below the Weir; Dryburgh Abbey with the Eildon Hills Beyond
Birmingham Museums & Art Gallery

Durham Cathedral, from the South West
Private Collection

St Nicholas’ Church, Newcastle-upon-Tyne
Private Collection

Tynemouth Priory, from the Coast
Cleveland Museum of Art

Bothal Castle, from the River Wansbeck
Private Collection

A River Scene with a Tower, Said to Be the Tyne near Hexham
Leeds Art Gallery

Warkworth Castle, from the River Coquet
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven

Warkworth Castle, from the River Coquet
Private Collection, Norfolk

The Bridge at Warkworth, with the Castle Beyond
Untraced Works

Dunstanburgh Castle, Viewed from a Distance
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven

Dunstanburgh Castle: The Lilburn Tower
Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle-upon-Tyne

Lindisfarne: An Interior View of the Ruins of the Priory Church
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester

Lindisfarne: An Interior View of the Ruins of the Priory Church
Fitzwilliam Museum, University of Cambridge

An Interior View of the Ruins of Lindisfarne Priory Church
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven

Lindisfarne: The Nave and Crossing of the Priory Church
British Museum, London

An Exterior View of the Ruins of Lindisfarne Priory Church
Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford

An Exterior View of the Ruins of Lindisfarne Priory Church
Private Collection

York Minster, from the South East, Layerthorpe Bridge and Postern to the Right
Victoria and Albert Museum, London

Dryburgh Abbey: The South Transept Looking North
Private Collection

Dryburgh Abbey: The South Transept from the Cloister
Private Collection

Melrose Abbey: The Ruined Presbytery and the East Window
Clark Art Institute, Williamstown

Melrose Abbey: The Ruined Presbytery and the East Window
Cooper Gallery, Barnsley

Melrose Abbey, from the North East
The Morgan Library & Museum, New York

Jedburgh Abbey, from the North East
Private Collection

Jedburgh Abbey, from Jed Water
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven

The Village of Jedburgh, with the Abbey Ruins
British Museum, London

The Village of Jedburgh, with the Abbey Ruins
Private Collection, Bedfordshire

The West Front of Jedburgh Abbey
British Museum, London

Jedburgh Abbey, from the South East
Blickling Hall, Norfolk (National Trust)

The Ruins of the Lady Chapel, near Bothal
Rhode Island School of Design Museum, Providence

Bamburgh Castle, from the Village
Guy Peppiatt Fine Art Ltd

St Nicholas’ Church, Newcastle-upon-Tyne
Victoria Gallery and Museum, University of Liverpool

Richmond, Yorkshire: The Seventeenth-Century House Known as St Nicholas
Private Collection

An Interior View of Fountains Abbey: The East Window from the Presbytery
Graves Gallery, Sheffield

St Mary’s, Old Malton, on the River Derwent
Untraced Works

York: Pavement, Looking towards All Saints
Private Collection
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 distant view of the ruins of Tynemouth Priory, on the Northumberland coast, was not included in Thomas Girtin (1874–1960) and David Loshak’s catalogue of Girtin’s watercolours, though it does feature in a file in the Girtin Archive titled ‘Weeds on the Wall’ (Girtin Archive, 14). Here Thomas Girtin assembled images of ‘Weeds’ – works that had been attributed to Girtin and that he thought might damage the artist’s reputation if not challenged. The photograph of this work is accompanied by a note to the effect that the watercolour, which had been wrongly titled ‘Entrance to Dover Harbour’, was in fact a copy by John Henderson (1764–1843) of a mezzotint dating from 1823–24 (see print after TG1086) made after another version of the composition (TG1085). This smaller watercolour has not been seen in public since 1903 (Exhibitions: Christie’s, 9 March 1903, lot 48) and it has not been possible to test this theory, but in any case I am confidant that Tynemouth Priory, from the Coast is not only by Girtin but also the model for the mezzotint, and not the other way around, as Tom Girtin (1913–94) thought (Girtin Archive, 12). The problem for Girtin’s descendant, it seems, was that he could not look beyond the work’s extremely faded condition, which long ago left it looking like a shadow of its former state. In one of the most extreme cases of Girtin’s use of a fugitive blue pigment, presumably indigo, the sky has disappeared almost entirely, and the sea, stripped of its blue glazes, appears a dull green; it is not entirely surprising, therefore, that the artist’s descendant was so unhappy with the attribution. A strip to the right, where the watercolour has been protected from the action of light, shows something of the work’s original effect, but fading on this scale must have primarily been down to the artist’s choice of fugitive pigments.
Although no on-the-spot sketch for this composition has been identified, there is every chance that it was produced on Girtin’s first independent trip away from London, to the northern counties and the Scottish Borders in 1796, as sketches made at nearby Newcastle upon Tyne clearly date from that year (for example, TG1080). Girtin had, by this date, already depicted the ruins of Tynemouth Priory in two watercolours of close-up views that were based on sketches made by his earliest patron, the antiquarian and amateur artist James Moore (1762–99), on his 1792 tour to the north east (TG0083 and TG0096). Given that in 1792–93 Girtin was working for a patron whose interest primarily lay in the architectural remains of the priory church, the results are not surprisingly very different in the more distant view that Girtin adopted when he visited the location for himself. As in a small watercolour of Tynemouth seen from a stormy sea, which he painted for another early patron, Dr Thomas Monro (1759–1833) (TG0850), Girtin concentrated his attention on the sweep of the bay in what must have been one of his first ever encounters with coastal scenery. How soon after the watercolour was painted is difficult to judge because of its poor condition, but it probably dates from later than the Monro work on account of Girtin’s use of more fugitive pigments, something that occurred with increasing regularity the more distant was the memory of his master’s strictures on the subject. Edward Dayes (1763–1804) was always careful to employ a palette that stood a good chance of lasting unaffected, and there is an irony in the fact that Girtin’s choice of a northerly viewpoint in his Tynemouth view was no doubt influenced by his master, who had made the priory and its coastal setting the subject of a number of watercolours (such as figure 1).
1797 - 1798
Tynemouth Priory, from the Coast
TG1086
1797 - 1798
Tynemouth Priory, from the Coast
TG1085
(?) 1796
Newcastle-upon-Tyne
TG1080
1792 - 1793
An Interior View of the Ruined East End of Tynemouth Priory Church
TG0083
1792 - 1793
The East End of Tynemouth Priory Church
TG0096
1796 - 1797
A Distant View of Tynemouth Priory, from the Sea
TG0850