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Works (?) Thomas Girtin

A Farm with an Unidentified Windmill

1795 - 1796

Primary Image: TG1417: (?) Thomas Girtin (1775–1802), A Farm with an Unidentified Windmill, 1795–96, graphite and watercolour on paper, 18 × 19.5 cm, 7 ⅛ × 7 ¾ in. Private Collection.

Photo courtesy of Paul Mellon Centre Photographic Archive, PA-F05200-0119 (CC BY-NC 4.0)

Description
Creator(s)
(?) Thomas Girtin (1775-1802)
Title
  • A Farm with an Unidentified Windmill
Date
1795 - 1796
Medium and Support
Graphite and watercolour on paper
Dimensions
18 × 19.5 cm, 7 ⅛ × 7 ¾ in
Object Type
Studio Watercolour
Subject Terms
Essex View; Picturesque Vernacular; Wind and Water Mills

Collection
Catalogue Number
TG1417
Description Source(s)
Auction Catalogue

Provenance

The Red Cross sale, Christie's, unknown date, lot 31; ... A. M. Mason; his sale, Sotheby's, 15 July 1976, lot 74 as 'The Mill' by Joseph Mallord William Turner, £1,700

About this Work

This view of a mill and farm buildings is known only from a black and white photograph taken when the watercolour was last seen in public, on the occasion that it appeared at auction in 1976 as by Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775–1851). The attribution certainly made sense, since the work depicts the same group of buildings seen in another watercolour by Turner that appeared on the art market in 2013 (see figure 1) and that appears to be an autograph work by the artist from about 1794. However, the slightly smaller view under consideration here differs considerably in its details from Turner’s watercolour, though, in turn, the details accord with another view of the same farm and mill that is titled ‘Landscape, Possibly Blackwater Estuary’ (see figure 2), presumably referring to the site in Essex. This is again only known from a poor-quality image in the Witt Library, London, so it is not possible to judge the veracity of its attribution to Girtin, but it may be by the same artist who produced this version of the composition. Working from two poor images, it is not possible to say any more at this stage than that at least one of the mill compositions might be by Girtin and that, if the mill was located on the Blackwater Estuary, the artist would have had to work from a sketch by someone else. This likewise goes for Turner, who is not known to have visited the area either.

A Windmill with Farm Buildings and Wagons, Said to Be in Essex

Figure 1.
(?) Thomas Girtin (1775–1802), A Windmill with Farm Buildings and Wagons, Said to Be in Essex, graphite and watercolour on wove paper, 17 × 20.5 cm, 6 ⅝ × 8 in. Private Collection.


Digital image courtesy of Eastbourne Auctions (All Rights Reserved).

by Greg Smith

Place depicted

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