- Description
-
- Creator(s)
- Thomas Girtin (1775-1802)
- Title
-
- Wetherby: Looking through the Bridge to the Mills
- Date
- (?) 1800
- Medium and Support
- Graphite, watercolour and pen and ink on laid paper
- Dimensions
- 32.7 × 52.7 cm, 12 ⅞ × 20 ¾ in
- Object Type
- Replica by Girtin; Studio Watercolour
- Subject Terms
- River Scenery; The Country Town; Wind and Water Mills; Yorkshire View
-
- Collection
-
- Leeds Art Gallery
- (LEEAG.2015.0020)
- Versions
-
Wetherby: Looking through the Bridge to the Mills
(TG1536)
Wetherby: Looking through the Bridge to the Mills (TG1643)
- Catalogue Number
- TG1644
- Girtin & Loshak Number
- 391ii as 'Richmond Bridge, Yorks'; '1800'
- Description Source(s)
- Viewed in 1999 and February 2020
Provenance
W. Newton; Sir William Arthington Worsley of Hovingham, 4th Baronet (1890–1973); then by decent to Sir William Marcus John Worsley, 5th Baronet (1925–2012); accepted by H. M. Governement in lieu of Inheritance Tax, and allocated to Leeds City Art Gallery, 2015
Exhibition History
Agnew’s, 1953a, no.78 as ’Richmond Bridge, Yorks’; Harewood, 1999, no.24 as ’Wetherby Bridge, looking through the bridge to the mills’
Bibliography
Worsley, 1963, no.23, p.6; Smith, 2002a, pp.58–59 as 'Wetherby Bridge, Yorkshire'
Place depicted
Other entries in Late Watercolours:
Samuel William Reynolds and Painting for the Art Market

An Imaginary City, with Antique Buildings
Rhode Island School of Design Museum, Providence

Ancient Ruins, with an Obelisk
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven

Ancient Ruins, with a Gothic Church
National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh

A Classical Composition, with a Church and Column
Walker Art Gallery, National Museums Liverpool

The Arch of Janus, Rome
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven

The Temple of Clitumnus
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven

Rome: The Temple of Antoninus and Faustina
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven

Rome: The Temple of Saturn, with the Arch of Septimius Severus
Private Collection

A Town on an Estuary
Rhode Island School of Design Museum, Providence

A Lagoon Capriccio
Birmingham Museums & Art Gallery

An Unidentified Coastal Landscape with a Windmill
Lady Lever Art Gallery, Port Sunlight

Barnard Castle, from the River Tees
Bowes Museum, Barnard Castle

A Farmhouse, Said to Be near Newcastle-upon-Tyne
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven

An Exterior View of the Ruins of Lindisfarne Priory Church
Lindisfarne Priory, Northumberland (English Heritage)

Kelso Abbey: The West Front
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester

Jedburgh Abbey, from the Riverbank
The Higgins, Bedford

On the River Medway, with a Boatyard, Beached Vessels and Hulks
Private Collection

Bisham Abbey, on the River Thames
Private Collection

A Classical Composition, with Figures Admiring the Sculptures
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester

An Unidentified Ruin next to a Bridge over a Stream, Said to Be Furness Abbey
Touchstones Rochdale

The Gatehouse of Morpeth Castle
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven

Buildings on the River Nidd, near Knaresborough
British Museum, London

Kirkstall Abbey, from Kirkstall Hill
British Museum, London

Kirkstall Abbey, from Kirkstall Bridge, Morning
Victoria and Albert Museum, London

Kirkstall Abbey, from the Canal, Evening
Private Collection

A Distant View of Kirkstall Abbey
Williamson Art Gallery & Museum, Birkenhead

An Unidentified Scene, Formerly Known as ‘Kirkstall Village’
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven

Wetherby Bridge and Mills, Looking across the Weir
The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston

Wetherby: Looking through the Bridge to the Mills
British Museum, London

Wetherby: Looking through the Bridge to the Mills
Leeds Art Gallery

Kirk Deighton, near Wetherby
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester

York: The New Walk on the Banks of the River Ouse
Victoria and Albert Museum, London

York: The Layerthorpe Bridge and Postern
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester

York: The Layerthorpe Bridge and Postern
Private Collection

York Minster from the South East, Layerthorpe Bridge and Postern to the Right
Private Collection

A Farmyard with Barns, Ladder and Figures; A Sky Study
Courtauld Gallery, London

Ripon Minster, with Skellgate Bridge
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven

Ripon Minster, with Skellgate Bridge
Leeds Art Gallery

Ripon Minster, with Skellgate Bridge
Blackburn Museum and Art Gallery

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

Ripon Minster, from the South East
National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh

Ripon Minster, from the South West
Private Collection

The Abbey Mill, near Knaresborough
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven

A Mountain Stream in Spate, Possibly the River Wharfe
Private Collection

Bolton Abbey: The East End of the Priory Church from across the River Wharfe
Eton College, Windsor

Bolton Abbey: The East End of the Priory Church, from across the River Wharfe
National Museum of Wales, Cardiff

Bolton Abbey: The East End of the Priory Church, from across the River Wharfe
Leeds Art Gallery

Bolton Abbey, from the River Wharfe
Private Collection

Bolton Abbey, from the River Wharfe
Private Collection

The Banks of the River Wharfe, with Bolton Abbey in the Distance
Private Collection

Stepping Stones on the River Wharfe, near Bolton Abbey
National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh

Stepping Stones on the River Wharfe, near Bolton Abbey
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne

Storiths Heights, near Bolton Abbey, from the River Wharfe
Fitzwilliam Museum, University of Cambridge

Richmond Castle, from the River Swale
Leeds Art Gallery

A Farmhouse in Malhamdale, Known as 'Kirkby Priory, near Malham'
British Museum, London

An Ancient Oak, Said to Be on the River Ure
Private Collection

Cottages at Hawes, from Gayle Beck
Birmingham Museums & Art Gallery

Cottages at Hawes, from Gayle Beck
Private Collection, Norfolk

Cottages at Hawes, from Gayle Beck
Private Collection

Cottages at Hawes, from Gayle Beck
Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford

Guisborough Priory: The Ruined East End
Tate, London

A Distant View of Guisborough Priory; The Tithe Barn, Abbotsbury
Private Collection, Norfolk

A Distant View of Guisborough Priory
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven

A Distant View of Guisborough Priory
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven

A Farmhouse, Said to Be near Newcastle-upon-Tyne
Private Collection

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

An Upland Landscape, Said to Show Etal Castle
Victoria and Albert Museum, London

The River Tweed at Kelso, Looking Upstream
Courtauld Gallery, London

The Eildon Hills, from the River Tweed
Fitzwilliam Museum, University of Cambridge

A Distant View of Dryburgh Abbey, with the Eildon Hills Beyond
Private Collection

The Valley of the Tweed, with Melrose Abbey in the Distance
Private Collection

Jedburgh Abbey, from Jed Water
Fitzwilliam Museum, University of Cambridge

Jedburgh Abbey, from the South East
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven

The Village of Jedburgh
National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh

Southampton: The South Gate and Old Gaol
Private Collection

Bristol Harbour, with St Mary Redcliffe in the Distance
Bristol Museum & Art Gallery

A Wharf with Shipping, Possibly at Bristol
Art Institute of Chicago

A Rainbow over the River Exe
National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin

A Rainbow over the River Exe
The Huntington Library, Art Museum and Botanical Gardens, San Marino

A Rainbow over the River Exe
Graves Gallery, Sheffield

Lydford Castle, from the River Lyd
Clark Art Institute, Williamstown

St Vincent’s Rocks and the Avon Gorge
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester

On the River Taw, North Devon, Looking from Braunton Marsh towards Instow and Appledore
National Gallery of Art, Washington

Conwy Castle, from the River Gyffin
Private Collection, Norfolk

Chelsea Reach, Looking towards Battersea (The White House, Chelsea)
Tate, London

Chelsea Reach, Looking towards Battersea
Private Collection, Norfolk

A Panoramic Landscape, with Figures Trawling a Pond
Private Collection

Landscape with a Distant Ridge, Possibly Hampstead Heath
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven

An Inn Yard, Edgware Road, Paddington
British Museum, London

The Thames from a Window of the Old Toy Inn, Hampton Court
British Museum, London

The Old Cottage, Widmore, near Bromley
British Museum, London

Shipping on the River Medway
Museum of New Zealand, Wellington

A Farmyard with Cattle, Poultry and Labourers Unloading Hay, Possibly Pinkney's Farm, Wimbish
Art Institute of Chicago

Farmhouse and Outbuildings, Possibly in Essex
Aberdeen Art Gallery

An Unidentified Village Street with a Church Tower in the Distance
British Museum, London

A Panoramic Landscape, Possibly Showing Primrose Hill, London
Private Collection

Unidentified Landscape with a Distant Rain Shower
National Museum of Wales, Cardiff

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

An Italianate Landscape with Two Monks
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 watercolour, which for a long period was known incorrectly as ‘Richmond Bridge’, shows the view through the northern arches of the bridge over the river Wharfe at Wetherby in Yorkshire. It is one of two almost identical versions of a composition (the other being TG1643) that were executed after a sketch that appears to have been produced during Girtin’s stay in Yorkshire in the summer of 1800 (TG1536). The outline does little more than indicate the relative positions of the different elements of the composition, however, and the artist therefore conceived the light effect, the play of shadows, and the different textures of stone, water, tree and thatch in the studio. Travellers who followed the course of the river Wharfe sometimes commented on the picturesque charms of the market town of Wetherby, but, despite its position on the Great North Road, few artists painted the subject. Unfortunately, we do not know whether this or either of the other Wetherby subjects executed by Girtin (TG1642 and TG1643) were commissions, but it may be that the artist himself recognised the potential of the town as a subject and produced his views for sale on the open market, since all of them conform to the standard size of the works that were disposed of by Samuel William Reynolds (1773–1835), who acted on behalf of the artist in his final years in a role somewhere between agent and dealer. In this case, the artist chose a view looking upstream through two of the arches of the bridge, the only part of the scene that remains, towards the mills (which were used for grinding rape and corn at this date), with one of the wheels shown to the left of the central pier (Hill, 1999, p.43). As Francis Hawcroft has pointed out, the use of an arch of a bridge to frame a background scene was pioneered by Giovanni Antonio Canal (Canaletto) (1697–1768), though the more immediate source for this lay in compositions by Girtin’s master, Edward Dayes (1763–1804) (see TG1643 figure 1) (Hawcroft, 1975, p.51). However, unlike either earlier artist, Girtin used the framing device not for a famous architectural motif but for a humble stretch of vernacular buildings with no obvious pictorial interest, and the radical innovation is enhanced by the use of two arches, which are determinedly asymmetrical. Overlaying images of the pencil outline and the watercolour illustrates how the artist extended the arch laterally to the right, so that it no longer balances the other, to the point where the perspective breaks down. Contrary to the suggestion of David Hill, who thought that this disturbing effect was a result of the bridge being remodelled and widened, this appears to have been a way of including more of the distant view of the mills (Hill, 1999, p.43).
Overlaying images of the two versions of the Wetherby composition also illustrates just how close the two works are, not just in terms of size. Like the two versions of Paris: The Ruins of the Roman Baths, Hôtel de Cluny (TG1896 and TG1897), the watercolours are identical, even down to details such as the reflections in the water and the stains on the masonry, where one might expect variations given Girtin’s flair for improvisation. The only discernible difference I can see is that in TG1643, the buildings seen through both arches are marginally smaller, but this does not mean that the other ‘composition has been refined slightly’, as Hill has suggested as the reason for thinking that this version is the earlier of the two (Hill, 1999, p.43). Indeed, the fact that the other watercolour includes visible pencil work might have suggested that it is the first, were it not for the fact that I do not think trying to establish the primacy of one over the other is relevant in this case. Such is the congruence, down to the tiniest of details, that I suspect the artist had both watercolours to hand as he worked on them, and that he painted on both at the same time, moving from one to the other, completing a wash of each tint in turn.
One of the watercolours may have been in the collection of the ‘Marquis of Stafford’ (George Leverson-Gower, 2nd Marquis of Stafford (1758–1833)) at Trentham Hall in Staffordshire. A report in the Repository of Arts in 1824 listed a ‘Wetherby Bridge’ in the sitting room at Trentham (Third Series, vol.4, no.19, 1 July 1824, p.4).
(?) 1800
Wetherby: Looking through the Bridge to the Mills
TG1643
1799 - 1800
Wetherby: Looking through the Bridge to the Mills
TG1536
(?) 1800
Wetherby Bridge and Mills, Looking across the Weir
TG1642
(?) 1800
Wetherby: Looking through the Bridge to the Mills
TG1643
(?) 1802
Paris: The Ruins of the Roman Baths, Hôtel de Cluny
TG1896
(?) 1802
Paris: The Ruins of the Roman Baths, Hôtel de Cluny
TG1897
(?) 1800
Wetherby: Looking through the Bridge to the Mills
TG1643