- Description
-
- Creator(s)
- Thomas Girtin (1775-1802) after Philips Koninck (1619-1688)
- Title
-
- A Town on an Estuary
- Date
- 1799 - 1800
- Medium and Support
- Graphite, watercolour, pen and ink and scratching out on laid paper
- Dimensions
- 17.6 × 31 cm, 6 ⅞ × 12 ¼ in
- Subject Terms
- Panoramic Format; River Scenery; Wind and Water Mills
-
- Catalogue Number
- TG0903
- Description Source(s)
- Gallery Website
Provenance
P & D Colnaghi & Co Ltd, 1959; bought from them by an anonymous collector, £300; presented to the Museum, 1971
Exhibition History
Colnaghi’s, 1959, no.59 (catalogue untraced); Rhode Island, 1972, no.43
Bibliography
Wilcox, 1993, p.16; Schoenherr, 2005, pp.62–63
Other entries in Late Watercolours:
Samuel William Reynolds and Painting for the Art Market

An Imaginary City, with Antique Buildings
Rhode Island School of Design Museum, Providence

Ancient Ruins, with an Obelisk
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven

Ancient Ruins, with a Gothic Church
National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh

A Classical Composition, with a Church and Column
Walker Art Gallery, National Museums Liverpool

The Arch of Janus, Rome
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven

The Temple of Clitumnus
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven

Rome: The Temple of Antoninus and Faustina
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven

Rome: The Temple of Saturn, with the Arch of Septimius Severus
Private Collection

A Town on an Estuary
Rhode Island School of Design Museum, Providence

A Lagoon Capriccio
Birmingham Museums & Art Gallery

An Unidentified Coastal Landscape with a Windmill
Lady Lever Art Gallery, Port Sunlight

Barnard Castle, from the River Tees
Bowes Museum, Barnard Castle

A Farmhouse, Said to Be near Newcastle-upon-Tyne
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven

An Exterior View of the Ruins of Lindisfarne Priory Church
Lindisfarne Priory, Northumberland (English Heritage)

Kelso Abbey: The West Front
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester

Jedburgh Abbey, from the Riverbank
The Higgins, Bedford

On the River Medway, with a Boatyard, Beached Vessels and Hulks
Private Collection

Bisham Abbey, on the River Thames
Private Collection

A Classical Composition, with Figures Admiring the Sculptures
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester

An Unidentified Ruin next to a Bridge over a Stream, Said to Be Furness Abbey
Touchstones Rochdale

The Gatehouse of Morpeth Castle
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven

Buildings on the River Nidd, near Knaresborough
British Museum, London

Kirkstall Abbey, from Kirkstall Hill
British Museum, London

Kirkstall Abbey, from Kirkstall Bridge, Morning
Victoria and Albert Museum, London

Kirkstall Abbey, from the Canal, Evening
Private Collection

A Distant View of Kirkstall Abbey
Williamson Art Gallery & Museum, Birkenhead

An Unidentified Scene, Formerly Known as ‘Kirkstall Village’
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven

Wetherby Bridge and Mills, Looking across the Weir
The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston

Wetherby: Looking through the Bridge to the Mills
British Museum, London

Wetherby: Looking through the Bridge to the Mills
Leeds Art Gallery

Kirk Deighton, near Wetherby
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester

York: The New Walk on the Banks of the River Ouse
Victoria and Albert Museum, London

York: The Layerthorpe Bridge and Postern
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester

York: The Layerthorpe Bridge and Postern
Private Collection

York Minster from the South East, Layerthorpe Bridge and Postern to the Right
Private Collection

A Farmyard with Barns, Ladder and Figures; A Sky Study
Courtauld Gallery, London

Ripon Minster, with Skellgate Bridge
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven

Ripon Minster, with Skellgate Bridge
Leeds Art Gallery

Ripon Minster, with Skellgate Bridge
Blackburn Museum and Art Gallery

A Distant View of Ripon Minster, from the River Skell
Private Collection

Ripon Minster, from the South East
National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh

Ripon Minster, from the South West
Private Collection

The Abbey Mill, near Knaresborough
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven

A Mountain Stream in Spate, Possibly the River Wharfe
Private Collection

Bolton Abbey: The East End of the Priory Church from across the River Wharfe
Eton College, Windsor

Bolton Abbey: The East End of the Priory Church, from across the River Wharfe
National Museum of Wales, Cardiff

Bolton Abbey: The East End of the Priory Church, from across the River Wharfe
Leeds Art Gallery

Bolton Abbey, from the River Wharfe
Private Collection

Bolton Abbey, from the River Wharfe
Private Collection

The Banks of the River Wharfe, with Bolton Abbey in the Distance
Private Collection

Stepping Stones on the River Wharfe, near Bolton Abbey
National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh

Stepping Stones on the River Wharfe, near Bolton Abbey
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne

Storiths Heights, near Bolton Abbey, from the River Wharfe
Fitzwilliam Museum, University of Cambridge

Richmond Castle, from the River Swale
Leeds Art Gallery

A Farmhouse in Malhamdale, Known as 'Kirkby Priory, near Malham'
British Museum, London

An Ancient Oak, Said to Be on the River Ure
Private Collection

Cottages at Hawes, from Gayle Beck
Birmingham Museums & Art Gallery

Cottages at Hawes, from Gayle Beck
Private Collection, Norfolk

Cottages at Hawes, from Gayle Beck
Private Collection

Cottages at Hawes, from Gayle Beck
Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford

Guisborough Priory: The Ruined East End
Tate, London

A Distant View of Guisborough Priory; The Tithe Barn, Abbotsbury
Private Collection, Norfolk

A Distant View of Guisborough Priory
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven

A Distant View of Guisborough Priory
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven

A Farmhouse, Said to Be near Newcastle-upon-Tyne
Private Collection

A Farmhouse, Said to Be near Newcastle-upon-Tyne
Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle-upon-Tyne

Kelso Abbey, from the River Tweed
Private Collection

Warkworth Castle, from the River Coquet
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven

An Upland Landscape, Said to Show Etal Castle
Victoria and Albert Museum, London

The River Tweed at Kelso, Looking Upstream
Courtauld Gallery, London

The Eildon Hills, from the River Tweed
Fitzwilliam Museum, University of Cambridge

A Distant View of Dryburgh Abbey, with the Eildon Hills Beyond
Private Collection

The Valley of the Tweed, with Melrose Abbey in the Distance
Private Collection

Jedburgh Abbey, from Jed Water
Fitzwilliam Museum, University of Cambridge

Jedburgh Abbey, from the South East
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven

The Village of Jedburgh
National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh

Southampton: The South Gate and Old Gaol
Private Collection

Bristol Harbour, with St Mary Redcliffe in the Distance
Bristol Museum & Art Gallery

A Wharf with Shipping, Possibly at Bristol
Art Institute of Chicago

A Rainbow over the River Exe
National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin

A Rainbow over the River Exe
The Huntington Library, Art Museum and Botanical Gardens, San Marino

A Rainbow over the River Exe
Graves Gallery, Sheffield

Lydford Castle, from the River Lyd
Clark Art Institute, Williamstown

St Vincent’s Rocks and the Avon Gorge
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester

On the River Taw, North Devon, Looking from Braunton Marsh towards Instow and Appledore
National Gallery of Art, Washington

Conwy Castle, from the River Gyffin
Private Collection, Norfolk

Chelsea Reach, Looking towards Battersea (The White House, Chelsea)
Tate, London

Chelsea Reach, Looking towards Battersea
Private Collection, Norfolk

A Panoramic Landscape, with Figures Trawling a Pond
Private Collection

Landscape with a Distant Ridge, Possibly Hampstead Heath
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven

An Inn Yard, Edgware Road, Paddington
British Museum, London

The Thames from a Window of the Old Toy Inn, Hampton Court
British Museum, London

The Old Cottage, Widmore, near Bromley
British Museum, London

Shipping on the River Medway
Museum of New Zealand, Wellington

A Farmyard with Cattle, Poultry and Labourers Unloading Hay, Possibly Pinkney's Farm, Wimbish
Art Institute of Chicago

Farmhouse and Outbuildings, Possibly in Essex
Aberdeen Art Gallery

An Unidentified Village Street with a Church Tower in the Distance
British Museum, London

A Panoramic Landscape, Possibly Showing Primrose Hill, London
Private Collection

Unidentified Landscape with a Distant Rain Shower
National Museum of Wales, Cardiff

Warkworth Church, with the Bridge Beyond
Victoria and Albert Museum, London

An Italianate Landscape with Two Monks
Private Collection
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About this Work
This watercolour of a distant town on an estuary, with a pastoral scene in the foreground, was made by Girtin from an etching by Jean Baptiste Chatelain (c.1710–58) of a painting that was then attributed to Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (1606–69) (see the source image above). The etching, which was published by Arthur Pond (1701–58) in 1744, actually reproduces a painting by another seventeenth-century Dutch artist, Philips Koninck (1619–88), though Girtin could not have known this, and he must have believed that he was copying one of Rembrandt’s few landscapes. As with a number of other watercolour versions that Girtin made after prints around 1800, including three Venetian views after Giovanni Antonio Canal (Canaletto) (1697–1768) (such as TG0898), the artist cut the composition at the bottom and more extensively in the sky, in order to create a more panoramic format. Otherwise, Girtin followed his source closely, only occasionally removing a figure or simplifying a form, and (typically) he did not add to the composition.
Establishing the function of a work, and by extension its position within Girtin’s development as an artist, is not always straightforward, and it is made more difficult in this case by the work’s poor, faded condition, with an unsightly water stain to the right. However, although the work is not of the highest standard, there is no question about the attribution to Girtin, and it is possible that the muted colour range was at least partly chosen to mirror the typical palette of an early Dutch landscape painting. The work certainly has stylistic elements in common with other watercolours that Girtin made around 1800 from reproductions of the work of eighteenth-century landscape artists, including Marco Ricci (1676–1730) and Giovanni Battista Piranesi (1720–78) (such as TG1916 and TG0885 respectively). Thus, it is unlikely that this landscape was made for patrons such as Dr Thomas Monro (1759–1833) or John Henderson (1764–1843), who had commissioned numerous copies after sketches and prints in their possession at a slightly earlier date, as Girtin in all probability produced it for sale on the open market as a new type of commodity that he pioneered. The production of watercolour versions of reproductive prints gave the artist a chance to match his skills against an admired master, and, at a time when the Continent was cut off for travellers from Britain by war, it showcased his ability to rise to the challenge of depicting foreign views without leaving his native city.
This unassuming watercolour has nonetheless featured prominently in the Girtin literature on account of what one writer called a ‘concrete indication of the strong influence of Dutch seventeenth-century painters on English artists’ (Exhibitions: Rhode Island, 1972, no.43). Two features, in particular, stand out as relevant to Girtin’s development as an artist and to the role of Dutch landscape art. Firstly, prints such as this are clearly the source of a characteristic panoramic structure that articulates key works from around 1800, such as Chelsea Reach, Looking towards Battersea (TG1740), in which a featureless foreground gives way to the main points of interest lined up in the middle distance. Secondly (and another feature of the composition better known as The White House at Chelsea), Dutch artists such as Jan van Goyen (1596–1656), Koninck and Rembrandt himself dispense with conventional framing devices, so that the painted landscape appears to have been cut from a larger field of vision. The fact that Girtin’s panoramic compositions follow Dutch models around this date does not mean, however, that A Town on an Estuary was copied as a means of advancing his art. The point to stress here is that this watercolour did not influence the more famous work, as although the two watercolours were conceived at roughly the same time, they were created as distinct commodities, aimed at slightly different sectors of the market.
1797 - 1798
Venice: The Grand Canal, from Santa Maria della Carità, Looking to San Marco Basin
TG0898
1800 - 1801
An Italianate Landscape with Two Monks
TG1916
1799 - 1800
The Arch of Janus
TG0885
1800
Chelsea Reach, Looking towards Battersea (The White House, Chelsea)
TG1740