This view of a boat-builder’s shed, possibly located on the river Medway, like the other version of the composition (TG0833b), displays many of the signs that mark the unique collaboration between Girtin and his contemporary Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775–1851) at the home of Dr Thomas Monro (1759–1833). Here the two artists were employed across three winters, probably between 1794 and 1797, to copy ‘the outlines or unfinished drawings of’ principally John Robert Cozens (1752–97), but other artists too, including the patron’s neighbour, the amateur John Henderson (1764–1843), who lent his ‘outlines for this purpose’ (Farington, Diary, 30 December 1794). Henderson visited Dover in the autumn of 1794 and the ‘outlines of Shipping & Boats’ he made there, described by the diarist Joseph Farington (1747–1821) as ‘Very ingenious & careful’, provided the basis for a substantial number of copies of marine views commissioned by Monro (Farington, Diary, 1 December 1795). As with the copies the artists made after the sketches of Cozens, ‘Girtin drew in outlines and Turner washed in the effects’, with Turner receiving ‘3s. 6d each night’ though ‘Girtin did not say what He had’ (Farington, Diary, 12 November 1798).¹

Girtin is not known to have visited Kent and his views of the county’s churches and marine scenery were copied after other artists. Though Turner travelled to Dover in 1793 and executed a series of studio watercolours after his own sketches, the majority of the coastal scenes sold from Monro’s collection that were associated with him, numbering as many as a hundred, were still produced from secondary sources (Exhibitions: Christie’s, 26 June 1833; Christie’s, 1 July 1833). Most of the Monro School coastal views were based on sketches made by Henderson in and around Dover, including A Boat on the Shore, near Shakespeare Cliff (TG0797), but there is no evidence that either this boat-building scene or two closely related drawings (TG0832 and TG0832a) depict the south-coast port; indeed, these watercolours have traditionally been said to represent scenes on the river Medway. Though there is no internal evidence to link any of the group with the river in Kent, the identification was presumably based on a contemporary inscription and it is therefore likely to be correct. Girtin’s views of nearby Rochester (such as TG0057), also on the Medway, are based on compositions by his master, Edward Dayes (1763–1804). Though it is possible that these watercolours too were copied from one of the numerous sketches by Dayes that are known to have been in Monro’s collection (Exhibitions: Christie’s, 2 July 1833, lot 44), I suspect that they were executed from lost sketches by Henderson. Scenes such as this, which can be identified as a boat-builder’s shed from the hoisting tackle in the centre, display the same consistent interest in the minutiae of marine labour found throughout Henderson’s sketches.

The bulk of the coastal views and scenes of shipping sold at Monro’s posthumous sale in 1833 were attributed to Turner alone, but, despite the pioneering article published by Andrew Wilton in 1984, which established the joint authorship of many of the Monro School copies, this work is still catalogued as solely by Turner (Wilton, 1984a, pp.8–23; Baker, 2011, p.351). This is perhaps surprising since the pencil work, featuring an unusually rich dark graphite that might even be black chalk, is quite prominent and displays many of Girtin’s characteristic and inventive touches. Indeed, if anything, it is the authorship of the watercolour washes that might be questioned, though in general I am inclined to put the variable quality of the Monro School copies down to the time constraints the artists worked under at Monro’s house. In this case, uncertainties about the exact division of labour might be settled with reference to the second version of the composition (TG0833b), which unaccountably adds a view of a fishing vessel copied from another Monro School view (TG0825). The poor quality of that work, which led me to conclude that it was not by Girtin and Turner, points up, in comparison, the superior effect achieved here and the fact that this resulted from Turner’s involvement.

1795 - 1796

A Boat-Builder’s Shed, Possibly on the River Medway, with a Fishing Boat with Drying Sails

TG0833b

1795 - 1796

A Boat on the Shore, near Shakespeare Cliff, Dover

TG0797

1795 - 1796

A Boat-Builder’s Yard, Possibly on the River Medway

TG0832

1795 - 1796

A Boat-Builder’s Yard, Possibly on the River Medway

TG0832a

(?) 1791

Rochester Castle, from the River Medway

TG0057

1795 - 1796

A Boat-Builder’s Shed, Possibly on the River Medway, with a Fishing Boat with Drying Sails

TG0833b

1795 - 1796

A Smack in Dover Harbour, Drying Sails, with the Old Church in the Distance

TG0825