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in colour. There are few more picturesque remains in England 
than those of this fine Abbey. The Abbey is_ separate, 
surrounded by trees, and reflected in a large pool of water, 
towards which cattle are descending as is their habit in a hot 
summer’s day. The sky is a bright cerulean blue with fleecy 
clouds, and on the left hand is agrand group of trees. It is now 
in the collection of Mr. H. F. Broadhurst, of Manchester. It 
was sold in Mr. Peter Allan’s collection in 1859 for 125 guineas.” 
If purchased in the present day another thousand or two would 
have to be added to this. Most of the visitors who go to Bolton 
Abbey miss this fine view. Indeed, many artists and photo- 
graphers go there, and take their pictures from a point too close 
to the building. One of our earliest English painters in water 
colours was Girton, and with the true instinct of an artist he at 
‘ence saw this and made his drawings accordingly. He painted 
several fine pictures of the Abbey taken from a spot near Bolton 
Bridge. Up to the time of his visit to Wharfedale our old 
abbeys were painted in water colour, much the same as a 
mechanical draughtsman would draw and colour a plan. But 
Girton understood the poetry of his art, and invested an abbey 
with a gloomy grandeur which up to that time had never been 
attempted. But itis very instructive to know that Girton did 
not consider, as our modern artists seem to do, that the ruins of 
the Abbey ought to be put into every picture. One of his finest 
drawings is a simple scene higher up the Wharfe where the 
Abbey is not seen. It is merely a sloping bank of the river 
with a man standing with his back to the spectator, looking 
across the stream and admiring the curves of the river and 
shelving slopes of the banks crowned with showy trees. One 
other glory of Girton is that he materially influenced Turner. 
They worked together when young men, and Turner was much 
impressed by the poetry which Girton infused into his work. 
Indeed it is probable that it was at Girton’s suggestion that 
Turner visited Wharfedale. It is interesting to know that the 
last picture which Girton painted was entitled “ Bolton Bridge.” 
He sent it for exhibition to the Royal Institution in 1801, and it 
was there at the very time his body was carried through the 
streets of London to its last resting place. 
Perhaps the most interesting and important event in connec- 
tion with the esthetic history of Bolton Abbey is the visit of 
Turner, By his great pictures of this part of the Wharfe he 
created an interest in Bolton Abbey wherever English Art is 
known. The Scotsman newspaper a few years ago calculated 
that the poetry of Sir Walter Scott was the means of bringing 
a million a year into Scotland. It would be difficult to estimate 
the number of visitors to Bolton Abbey who have been brought 
there by the poetry of Wordsworth and the paintings of Turner. 
