- Description
-
- Creator(s)
- Thomas Girtin (1775-1802)
- Title
-
- The Mouth of the River Exe
- Date
- 1797 - 1798
- Medium and Support
- Watercolour on paper
- Dimensions
- 26.7 × 36.8 cm, 10 ½ × 14 ½ in
- Object Type
- Studio Watercolour
- Subject Terms
- Coasts and Shipping; The West Country: Devon and Dorset
-
- Collection
- Catalogue Number
- TG1407
- Description Source(s)
- Girtin and Loshak, 1954
Provenance
Thomas Calvert Girtin (1801–74); then by descent to George Wyndham Hog Girtin (1836–1912) (lent to London, 1875; London, 1877); by a settlement to his sister, Mary Hog Barnard (née Girtin) (1828–99); her sale, Christie’s, 31 May 1886, lot 47; 'Permain'
Exhibition History
London, 1875, no.118; London, 1877, no.319
Bibliography
Girtin and Loshak, 1954, p.208
Place depicted
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About this Work
This watercolour has not been seen since it was sold at auction in 1886 with the title The Mouth of the Exe, and no image is known of it. The title suggests that the work may have been related to the celebrated image A Rainbow over the River Exe (TG1729 and TG1730). The two authentic versions of the composition are dated 1800, meaning that Girtin waited three years to realise studio watercolours of a subject that he must have gathered on his 1797 West Country tour. It is just possible, therefore, that this lost work is the on-the-spot sketch from which Girtin worked, and the fact that it appears to have descended through the family line until 1886 means that, as a working drawing, it remained in his studio at his death. Conversely, at a rather four-square 26.7 × 36.8 cm (10 ½ × 14 ½ in), it could be a variant on the estuary scene.
1800
A Rainbow over the River Exe
TG1729
1800
A Rainbow over the River Exe
TG1730