This slight pencil sketch of a young Girtin was made at the home of the artist’s important early patron Dr Thomas Monro (1759–1833) by an unknown artist, possibly Monro himself. It is part of a significant group of sketches of some of the artists, professional and amateur, who visited Monro’s residence at the Adelphi, including Thomas Hearne (1744–1817), Henry Edridge (1768–1821) and Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775–1851). The study of Turner (see figure 1) shows the artist working by candlelight at a desk, no doubt colouring one of the outlines that Girtin was employed by Monro to copy from sketches in his collection. The study of Girtin may well show the artist similarly occupied, though in terms of capturing a likeness it is amateurish in the extreme, and we are dependent on the inscription to confirm the identity of the subject. 

This is equally the case with another study of Girtin by a member of the Monro circle (see figure 2). The drawing of a youth, which is twice inscribed with Girtin’s name, was sold in 2010 with an attribution to Henry Monro (1791–1814) (son of Thomas), who would have been a boy of no more than five or six at the time of the artist’s association with Monro (Exhibitions: Sotheby’s, 14 July 2010, lot 71). Arguably that might account for why the image bears no resemblance to any of the authentic portraits that record Girtin’s appearance, but I suspect that the inscription was added later to an image of an anonymous youth by an optimistic owner, or, if it is by Henry Monro, perhaps it was subsequently drawn from memory.