Studio: international art (67.1916)

A Girtin Collection

Tynemouth Priory is rather an elaborate drawing
done in the studio. It is very firm yet delicate in
touch, and full of the artist’s cleverness in suggest-
ing the weathered look of stone with only two tints ;
owing to this the drawing is practically a mono-
chrome of bluish greys and browns. But a good
many people will prefer the little sketch called
Tynemouth, a magnificent and powerful rendering
of the coming storm which will soon envelop the
distant cliff and curving beach with the tiny specks
of human figures upon it. Here, in so small a
drawing, is a vastness which is perfectly rendered
by simple washes of grey and brown ! This draw-
ing alone would rank Girtin as one of the truest
and greatest of landscape impressionists. The
sketch of some unknown locality (perhaps Porlock)
is shown as a similar work of this kind. In this
the artist was impressed with the extensive bird’s-
eye view over hill and cultivated flat land bordering
on the sea, and has achieved it completely with
great power and simplicity.

Mr. Girtin possesses a drawing which is unique !
This is the Helmsley Castle, and is the only snow
piece by the artist known to exist. The drawing
is simple enough in colour, with the greyish blue

of the snow as opposed to the warmer tones of the
building, and the figure of the sportsman in it,
stalking his quarry, reminds one of Morland’s art.
Carnarvon Castle, one of Girtin’s matured works,
is a glorious drawing, representing architecture of
ruined masonry and piled up masses of clouds.
It is a work that must have influenced Turner and
pleased Girtin’s contemporaries, for in fact it was
formerly owned by one of them, the landscape
artist Henry Edridge, and W. B. Cooke engraved
it in 1821.

A drawing that was expressly executed for the
engraver is the View of Pont de la Tournelle, and
Notre Dame. This was done by Girtin as a work-
ing direction for F. C. Lewis, who engraved it in
aquatint for the Seine series made by the artist
in 1802 when in Paris, where he had gone for his
health. The drawing is in Indian ink, and although
it is one of the last he ever produced, the pen
lines of it, though tremulous, are nevertheless
expressive.

One of the most consummate drawings in
Mr. Girtin’s collection is the Valley of the Aire,
here reproduced in colour. It is delightful to let
one’s eye travel up this vale with its sunlit flats,

“ OLD MILL AT STANSTEAD ” SEPIA DRAWING BY THOMAS GIRTIN

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