- Description
-
- Creator(s)
- (?) Thomas Girtin (1775-1802)
- Title
-
- Part of the Ruins of the Savoy Palace, Westminster Bridge Beyond
- Date
- 1795 - 1796
- Medium and Support
- Watercolour on paper
- Dimensions
- 21.5 × 31.5 cm, 8 ½ × 12 ½ in
- Object Type
- Studio Watercolour
- Subject Terms
- London and Environs; Urban Ruins
Provenance
Robert Nesham (1846–1928); his sale, Christie's, 30 July 1924, lot 81 as by Joseph Mallord William Turner; bought by 'Palser', £52 10s; J. Palser & Sons; Michael Thomas Harvey Sadler (1888-1957); his widow, Edith Sadler; her sale, Christie’s, 3 July 1962, lot 108, as 'A View of the Ruins of the Savoy Palace' by Joseph Mallord William Turner; bought by Spink & Son Ltd, London, £420
Bibliography
Girtin and Loshak, 1954, p.152
Place depicted
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About this Work
This watercolour has consistently been attributed to Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775–1851) at a series of sales over the course of the past hundred years. The last occurred in 1962, since when the work has not been seen. Thomas Girtin (1874–1960) and David Loshak also noted that this version of a composition that Girtin developed in two other similarly sized watercolours (TG0226 and TG0366) was by Turner, lacking only the dog that dominates the foreground of the latter (Girtin and Loshak, 1954, p.152). The quality of the black and white photo included in the 1962 sale catalogue does not provide sufficient evidence to say categorically that the watercolour is by Girtin, but, given that the figures and the majority of the architectural features are identical to the other watercolour versions, it does tend to rule out the attribution to Turner, who would have had to station himself at exactly the same position as Girtin and witness the same figures at work to produce something so alike. The alternative, that this is a close copy by Turner of Girtin’s composition, is similarly untenable since, although the two artists collaborated on numerous occasions at the home of Dr Thomas Monro (1759–1833), Turner had no occasion to copy a watercolour by his friend, not least as the subject was easily accessible. Until the watercolour re-emerges, it is safest to say, therefore, that it is highly unlikely to be by Turner and might be by Girtin, though, given that the subject enjoyed some popularity with patrons around 1795–96, it could equally be a copy by an anonymous hand.
1795 - 1796
Part of the Ruins of the Savoy Palace, Westminster Bridge Beyond
TG0226
1795 - 1796
Part of the Ruins of the Savoy Palace, Westminster Bridge Beyond
TG0366