- Description
-
- Creator(s)
- Unknown Artist
- Title
-
- Unidentified Monastic Ruins next to a River
- Date
- 1797 - 1800
- Medium and Support
- Watercolour and pen and ink on laid paper
- Dimensions
- 22.9 × 33.7 cm, 9 × 13 ¼ in
- Object Type
- Formerly attributed to Thomas Girtin; Studio Watercolour
- Subject Terms
- Monastic Ruins; Unidentified Topographical View
-
- Collection
- Catalogue Number
- TG0254
- Description Source(s)
- Sale Catalogue
Provenance
P & D Colnaghi & Co Ltd, 1964; Bellmans, 16 October 2024, lot 1074 as 'Jedburgh Abbey' by 'Circle of Thomas Girtin', £90
Exhibition History
Colnaghi’s, 1964, no.39 as ’Jedburgh Abbey’
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Edward Dayes and the Industrious Apprentice
An Icelandic Woman in Her Riding Dress
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An Icelandic Woman in Her Bridal Dress
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Durham Cathedral, from the River Wear
The Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg
Eton College, from the River
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
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The Banqueting House, Whitehall
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A Persian Lady in 1568
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
An English Nobleman in 1559
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Henry VIII in 1520
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
Marlow, from across the River Thames
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Tynemouth Priory, from the Coast
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Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Rochester Castle, from the River Medway
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Brown University Library, Providence, Anne S. K. Brown Military Collection
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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
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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
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Birmingham Museums & Art Gallery
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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
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Private Collection
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Private Collection
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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
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Caesar’s Tower, Warwick Castle
Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
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Private Collection
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National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh
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Private Collection
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Private Collection
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The Huntington Library, Art Museum and Botanical Gardens, San Marino
A Distant View of Marlow, from the River Thames
Private Collection
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Tate, London
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About this Work
This watercolour was until recently known only from a black and white photograph and an attribution to Girtin from early in his career when his depictions of architectural subjects which were generally based on the sketches of other artists was at least plausible, if not convincing. However, its reappearance at auction as the work of an unknown artist active in the ‘Circle Thomas Girtin’ (Bellmans, 16 October 2024, no.1074) has removed any lingering thoughts that it is anything other than a very faded effort by an amateur artist with a superficial knowledge of Girtin’s later watercolours. The original attribution to Girtin was no doubt related to its erroneous title, Jedburgh Abbey, a subject that the artist depicted on a number of occasions. The river location is, however, the only element of the composition that resembles the ruined portion of Jedburgh Abbey and the form of the building is so different that it is likely that the view is an imaginary one, something which again precludes Girtin’s authorship. The eccentric form of the gable to the right, with two flanking buttresses towering above, is arguably not to be found in any early Gothic building. Moreover, the poor command of perspective means that the relationship of the gable to the rest of the ruin lacks spatial coherence and suggests that, unlike Girtin, the unknown artist here had no understanding of the basic principles of Gothic architecture and, furthermore, that he or she lacked the skill to depict a complex combination of architectural elements in a convincing manner.
A watercolour of what may represent another ruined abbey, once attributed to Turner, has also been linked to Girtin (see figure 1). The form of the tree in the darkened foreground and the foliage have some features in common with this work, but other passages recall the artist’s later style. The muddied colours do not create any credible sense of space, however, and the incompatible mix of elements of Girtin’s style is rendered even more incoherent by an unconvincing sky, where the clouds are neither accurate representations of meteorological effects nor attractive as abstract shapes. The work, according to the website of the Walker Art Gallery, is said to be by an unknown artist working in the ‘manner of Thomas Girtin’, and that is surely the correct attribution.