Watercolor with pen and brown ink over graphite, with scratching out on medium, rough, beige wove paper
Dimensions:
Sheet: 12 15/16 x 20 5/8 inches (32.9 x 52.4 cm)
Credit Line:
Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection
Copyright Status:
Public Domain
Accession Number:
B1977.14.363
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)
