Europe | United Kingdom | England | Ouse | York | York
Currently On View:
Not on view
Exhibition History:
Great British Watercolors from the Paul Mellon Collection at the Yale Center for British Art (Yale Center for British Art, 2008-06-09 - 2008-08-17)Great British Watercolors from the Paul Mellon Collection at the Yale Center for British Art (The State Hermitage Museum, 2007-10-23 - 2008-01-13)Great British Watercolors from the Paul Mellon Collection at the Yale Center for British Art (Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, 2007-07-11 - 2007-09-30)Thomas Girtin and the Art of Watercolour (Tate Britain, 2002-07-04 - 2002-09-29)Thomas Girtin: Genius in the North (Harewood House Trust Ltd., 1999-03-09 - 1999-06-13)Thomas Girtin (Yale Center for British Art, 1986-01-21 - 1986-03-30)Presences of Nature - British Landscape 1780-1830 (Yale Center for British Art, 1982-10-20 - 1983-02-27)Works of Splendor and Imagination - The Exhibition Watercolor 1770-1870 (Yale Center for British Art, 1981-09-16 - 1981-11-22)English Landscape (Paul Mellon Collection) 1630-1850 (Yale Center for British Art, 1977-04-19 - 1977-07-17)
Publications:
Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, British watercolour drawings in the collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, Victoria, BC, 1971, p. 5, no. 18, pl. 3, ND1928 .A76 1971 (LC) (YCBA)John Baskett, English drawings and watercolors, 1550-1850, in the Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon , The Morgan Library & Museum, New York, 1972, p. 70, no. 93, pl. 93, NC228 B37+ (YCBA)Jane Bayard, Works of splendor and imagination, The exhibition watercolor, 1770-1870 , Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, 1981, pp. 49-50, no. 26, pl. 26, ND1928 B39 OVERSIZE (YCBA)Burlington Fine Arts Club, Exhibition of drawings in water colour by artists born anterior to 1800, and now deceased, illustrative of the progress and development of that branch of fine arts in Great Britain, Metechin and Son, London, 1871, p. 44, no. 100, ND1928 .B7 (LC)+ Oversize (YCBA)Thomas Girtin, The art of Thomas Girtin, A. and C. Black, London, 1954, p. 186, no. 382, NJ18 G44 G445 (YCBA)Louis Hawes, Presences of Nature : British Landscape, 1780-1830, , Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, CT, 1982, pp. 108, 194-195, no. VI.18, pl. 84, ND1354.4 H38 (YCBA)David Hill, Thomas Girtin : genius in the North, Harewood House Trust Ltd., Leeds, 1999, pp. 50-51, no. 32, NJ18 .G44 H55 1999 (LC) (YCBA)International Exhibition 1862 : Official Catalogue of the Fine Art Department, Truscott, Son, & Simmons, London, 1862, p. 49, no. 813, Available online at World's Fairs : A Global History of Expositions (Yale Internet Resource)Leeds Art Gallery, Early English water colours ; October 8-November 23, 1958, Leeds City Art Gallery, Leeds Art Gallery, Leeds, 1958, p. 21, no. 49, ND1733 .L4 L444 (LC) (YCBA)Susan Morris, Thomas Girtin, 1775-1802, Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, 1986, pp. 21, 45, 71, no. 77, NJ18 .G44 M67 (LC) (YCBA)Reading Museum and Art Gallery, Thomas Girtin and some of his contemporaries, Reading Museum and Art Gallery, Reading, 1969, p. 12, no. 50, NJ18 .G44 R4 (LC) (YCBA)Royal Academy of Arts, The Girtin collection : watercolours by Thomas Girtin and other masters : Royal Academy of Arts Diploma Gallery, London, 1962, p. 30, no. 161, ND1928 .G57 1962 (LC) (YCBA)Christopher White, English landscape, 1630-1850 : drawings, prints & books from the Paul Mellon Collection, , Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, 1977, pp. 68-69, no. 118, p. CXIII, NC228 W45 OVERSIZE (YCBA)Yale Center for British Art, Great British watercolors : from the Paul Mellon Collection, Yale University Press, New Haven, 2007, pp. 95, 97-98, no. 41, ND1928 .Y35 2007 (LC)+ Oversize (YCBA)
Gallery Label:
Girtin made a tour of Yorkshire in the summer of 1800, which was probably when he made this watercolor of an ancient bridge in the city of York. At the time Girtin was painting it, the city's authorities were busy trying to demolish the bridge as a nuisance, hoping to replace it with a modern iron structure. Its status as a crumbling and endangered relic of a former age made it an ideal subject for picturesque treatment. The somber coloring has been related to the influence of Rembrandt, but it is possible that it originally would have been rather brighter, with more blue. Since Girtin often used fugitive pigments that faded quickly, many of his drawings have lost the impact they must have had when first painted. Gallery label for Great British Watercolors from the Paul Mellon Collection at the Yale Center for British Art (Yale Center for British Art, 2008-06-09 - 2008-08-17)