This panoramic coastal scene, which may show the view looking west from near Beachy Head towards Newhaven, is one of a small group of watercolours depicting the characteristic chalk cliff scenery of the south coast. Works such as this, and what appear to be two closer views looking along the coast to Newhaven (TG0835 and TG0836), 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 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 the Sussex coast, and, as with the numerous views of the ports in Kent that he produced with Turner, it is safe to assume that he employed secondary sources for the three Monro School watercolours showing scenery near Beachy Head. Comparable views near Dover – Shakespeare Cliff, Dover (TG0837) and The Coast, near Dover (TG0834) – were in all probability based on lost outline drawings by Henderson, and, though the evidence linking this watercolour to the amateur’s sketches is not as compelling, he appears to be the most likely candidate as the author of the original source for this image, as he travelled westwards.

All of the views of Dover and the south coast sold at Monro’s posthumous sale in 1833 were attributed to Turner alone, but, despite the publication of Andrew Wilton’s pioneering article in 1984, which established many of the Monro School Dover subjects as the joint productions of Girtin and Turner, this watercolour has been catalogued as solely by Turner (Wilton, 1984a, pp.8–23; Herrmann, 1968, no.92, p.104). This is not altogether surprising since, in comparison with the views of shipping, where Girtin’s outline plays an integral part in the composition, here Turner’s washes of colour, even in their limited palette of blues and greys, leave little of the pencil work visible. Therefore, whilst it is perfectly possible that this work conforms to the strict division of labour as described by Turner and Girtin themselves to Farington in 1798, there is no clear evidence about the authorship of the pencil work. That said, one factor might suggest the involvement of Girtin after all. Thus, like the similar Monro School watercolour The Coast, near Dover (TG0834), this drawing employs an extended panoramic format as a way of articulating a coastal view stretching into the distance, something that Girtin developed further following his trip to the West Country in the autumn of 1797. His first essays in the panoramic mode date from as early as 1796, however, and it is possible to see a work such as this as part of the same programme.

1795 - 1796

Beachy Head, Looking towards Newhaven

TG0835

1795 - 1796

Beachy Head, Looking towards Newhaven

TG0836

1795 - 1796

Shakespeare Cliff, Dover

TG0837

1795 - 1796

The Coast, near Dover

TG0834

1795 - 1796

The Coast, near Dover

TG0834