International studio (18.1902/1903)

"ON THE MARNE: BELOW ETCHED IN OUTLINE ON SOFT GROUND BY THOMAS
TIIE BRIDGE AT CHARENTON " GIRTIN. AQUATINTED BY J. B. HARRADEN

What in others might have been called theft
was a complete victory for his genius. And the
truth of this may be verihed by anyone who goes
to the Print Room of the British Museum, and
there studies the apprentice sketches by Girtin
which John Henderson, a good friend and patron,
bequeathed to the nation. These apprentice
sketches are ali copies, vigorous copies after Maiton,
Canale, and Piranesi; yet within the styies inter-
preted Girtin has made his mark, has ieft the invari-
able tokens of his presence. It is not often that a
youngcopyist is able thus to transform his imitations.
For the rest, there is no room here for a bio-
graphy of Girtin. A magazine cannot hnd space
for long articies accompanied by a great many
iHustrations; and it is better to cut the text short
in order that Girtin may be able to speak for him-
self in a rich seiection from his best works. Be-
sides, any reader who wishes to do so can
hnd a good account of Girtin's iife in the
" Dictionary of National Biography." A stili better
account may be enjoyed in Mr. Laurence Binyon's
delightful work on Girtin, which owes much to the
abundant information given by Mr. J. L. Roget, in
the first volume of the well-known " History of the
Oid Water-Colour Society." It is useless to
consuit the " Encyclopeedia Britannica," for this

work of reference has nothing whatever to tell
you about Girtin, a painter of so much worth that
Turner alwaysdelighted to speakof him as "a brii-
iiant feliow." And he said, too, one day, in a
moment of unusual seif-depreciation, " Had Tom
Girtin iived, I shouid have starved."
It is time now that I offer my cordial thanks to
the many admirers of Girtin who have given me their
weicome aid, aiiowing me to see and to borrow
work from their coiiections. Especiaiiy am I
grateful to Mr. George Girtin, the painter's grand-
son, and to Mr. George Tite, whose copy of
Girtin's A'aw Fihznf has been rnost useful in the
preparing of representative iilustrations.
A newiy-discovered fact is brought to mind
by reference to the Ahw CzhzM, and there is
space enough left to reqord it. Girtin was of
French descent. His origin has recentiy been
traced back to the Huguenot famiiy of Guertin,
which had its home in the Isie of France, untii
the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes caused it to
Hy for safety into Engiand. France, then, has a
share in Girtin's fame—a share not unlike that
which Engiand has in the genius of Montaigne,
whose English ancestry is mentioned in the Essay
on Giory.
WALTER SHAW SPARROW

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