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Works Thomas Girtin after Edward Dayes

A Cottage on the Solent

1792 - 1793

Primary Image: TG0100: Thomas Girtin (1775–1802), after Edward Dayes (1763–1804), A Cottage on the Solent, 1792–93, graphite and watercolour on wove paper, on a card mount, 22.3 × 31 cm, 8 ¾ × 12 ¼ in. Birmingham Museums & Art Gallery (1953P217).

Photo courtesy of Birmingham Museums Trust (All Rights Reserved)

Description
Creator(s)
Thomas Girtin (1775-1802) after Edward Dayes (1763-1804)
Title
  • A Cottage on the Solent
Date
1792 - 1793
Medium and Support
Graphite and watercolour on wove paper, on a card mount
Dimensions
22.3 × 31 cm, 8 ¾ × 12 ¼ in
Object Type
Studio Watercolour
Subject Terms
Hampshire View; Picturesque Vernacular; River Scenery

Collection
Catalogue Number
TG0100
Girtin & Loshak Number
74 as '1794'
Description Source(s)
Viewed in 2001

Provenance

Cotswold Gallery, London, 1926; bought by Charles Peter Allen (1861–1930), £60; his posthumous sale, Christie's, 5 December 1930, lot 29; bought by 'G. D. Thomson', £52 10s, for the Palser Gallery, London; James Leslie Wright (1862–1954); presented to the Museum, 1953

Exhibition History

Cotswold Gallery, 1926, no.27; Cotswold Gallery, 1926a, no.27, £60; Birmingham, 1938, no.74; Worcester, 1938, no.34; Birmingham, 1939, no.191; London, 1949, no.180

Bibliography

Rose, 1980, p.57 as 'Cottages on the Solent'

About this Work

A Cottage, near Southampton

Thomas Girtin (1874–1960) and David Loshak dated this work to 1794 and the period immediately after the termination of Girtin’s apprenticeship to Edward Dayes (1763–1804), and they suggested that it was made after a sketch by Dayes (Girtin and Loshak, 1954, p.143). Given the unremarkable nature of the architecture and the unspecific coastal location, unsurprisingly it has not been possible to verify the work’s traditional title and nor has any Dayes prototype for the composition been identified. Girtin certainly did not visit the Hampshire coast early in his career and the suggestion that the watercolour was made after the work of Dayes is given credence by its close connections with another of his works, titled A Cottage near Southampton (see figure 1), which shows a similar half-timbered building in a coastal setting. Some doubts have been expressed about the attribution of the drawing to Girtin, but, though the work is in poor condition, faded and discoloured, there are enough signs to suggest that the young Girtin used his master’s sketches as the basis for views of picturesque vernacular buildings as well as for better-known topographical sites such as the cathedral towns of Durham and Rochester. Certainly, the influence of Dayes remains very strong and if the attribution to Girtin proves untenable the obvious other candidate would be Dayes himself.

by Greg Smith

Place depicted

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